TheNextStep
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Jerry Mac, on his blog, has been doing a quick run down of the last several drafts. While I normally like his blog, these particular pieces are so short that they seem incomplete. I don't know, I just figure if he's going to do it, he should do it right.
That said, I'm not a journalist. I'm a fan and I have the liberty to write emotionally or nostalgically if I so choose. And I do, in fact, so choose...
2004
1/2_Robert Gallery, T, Iowa - I remember saying at the time that I thought that everyone who said that Gallery compared to Ogden, Pace, or Boselli was out of their rabid assed minds. While I certainly didn't expact him to struggle as much as he has, I wasn't nearly as sold on him as a lot of people were. If I recall correctly, my pre-draft man-crush was on none other than Roy Williams, WR, Texas, for most of the build up to the draft, until I came up with a brilliant strategy to trade down into the late first and grab whichever RB fell, Stephen Jackson or Kevin Jones.
2/45_Jake Grove, C, Virignia Tech - I loved this pick because I have faith in Oakland's ability to evaluate centers and also because of Grove's reputation as being a nasty son of a bitch. I loved it even more when it came to light after the draft that the Raiders went into it knowing that Barrett Robbins' attempts to come back were permanently ended by a knee that was never going to get better. With Gallery and Grove in the first two rounds, I figured we were SURELY seeing a return to smashmouth running.
3/67_Stuart Schweigert, S, Purdue - Again, I was thrilled with the pick. I honestly didn't anticipate Schweigert falling this far. While a lot of people bag on Stu, I think he's a solid starter for us.
4/99_Carlos Francis, WR, Texas Tech - Didn't like this pick at all. Yeah, he's fast... but he's also smaller, and came from Goddamned Trailer Trash University and their gimmick offense.
5/134_Johnnie Morant, WR, Syracuse - Liked this pick, though I was cautious due to Morant's rep for "catching the hard ones, dropping the easy ones." Nowadays, I'm excited to see if Morant can't up his role and production in Kiffin's offense.
6/166_Shawn Johnson, DE, Delaware - I don't recall a single damned thing about this particular kid.
6/182_CodySpencer, LB, North Texas - Wasn't this the kid that Limee correctly predicted in the L'il Al contest?
7/245_Courtney Anderson, TE, San Jose State - I liked this pick for all the wrong reasons. Personally, I thought that with Courtney's size and speed they were going to try a patented Raider relocation experiment and play him at DE. Although Courtney hasn't turned into the kind of TE you want starting all the time, you can't say that he hasn't outplayed his 7th round status.
7/255_Andre Sommersell, LB, Colroado State - I remember liking this kid, but I can't honestly tell you why.
2003
1/31_Nnamdi Asomugha, CB, California - I remember being very, very upset by pick 31. I honestly felt that the Raiders were going to go DB here and my boy Sammy Davis, the Candyman, from Texas A&M's vaunted Wrecking Crew defense would have been perfect... had the Chargers not selected him one pick ahead of us. Still, I had us trading up in the second round of this draft to select Nnamdi and I was convinced that the kid could be a player, so I wasn't TOO pissed off.
1/32_Tyler Brayton, DE, Colorado - I recall being a bit underwhelmed with this pick from the get-go. I felt like after the first 4 DEs went in the top 15 of the draft that year, there weren't particularly any standout ends out there. To me, Brayton was no different than say, Kenny Peterson, who went in round 3 (though it did surprise me that Peterson dropped that low at the time). I recall wanting to get Anthony Adams (DT, Penn State), Boss Bailey (LB, Georgia), or Terry Pierce (LB, K-State), all of whom went in the 2nd before we picked again.
2/63_Teyo Johnson, TE Stanford - I seem to remember being pissed off at this selection, although I know a LOT of people were fans of it. The guy was too damned slow for my tastes. I remember before the draft, there was a "who do you NOT want" thread... and Teyo was one of the guys that I listed.
3/83_Sam Williams, LB, Fresno State - A very under-the-radar guy, as most people heard the name called and said, "um, who?" I was no different. That said, I defended him vigorously (and still do) when there was so much backlash against him regarding the "push ups" and his injuries.
3/96_Justin Fargas, RB, Southern California - I remember being very happy with this pick. Fargas' size and speed measurables were freakin' amazing and I honestly thought that this kid would be making the big plays that Kaufman used to make.
4/129_Shurron Pierson, DE, South Florida - Tell me, who didn't freakin' love Shurron Pierson while the Raiders had him? I remember a whole lot of bitching when we let him go.
5/167_Doug Gabriel, WR, Central Florida - Liked the kid from the word "go." I still do. And, just think, now that we go a 5th for him, we essentially drafted him for free... or something.
6/204_Dustin Rykert, T, Brigham Young - Don't recall much about him.
7/246_Siddeeq Shabazz, SS, New Mexico State - In the pre-season, Siddeeq Shabazz was playing safety against Green Bay, when the Packers connected on a deep throw to Robert Ferguson (whom I had lobbied hard for the Raiders to draft, via my double secret raiders.com logon and by passing coded messages through hawaiianboy to Willis). Shabazz just fucking unloaded on Ferguson. I mean, he just leveled the poor bastard. After I saw that, I was completely on this guy's bandwagon. Of course, he got flagged 15 yards on the play but, whatever...
7/262_Ryan Hoag, WR, Gustavus Adolphus - What I'll always remember about this "Mister Irrelevant" pick is when Chris Berman held up a copy of Kiper's draft guide and flipped to the page abotu "Mister Irrelevant." Who was the guy on the page? Yep... Ryan Hoag. I don't get as bothered by Kiper as a lot of folks do nowadays.
2002
1/17_Phillip Buchanon, CB, Miami - I can't think of anybody who wasn't thrilled with this pick. Pre-draft projections had Buchanon as a top ten talent. When we moved up to get him, it blew me away. I thought he was going to be at worst a Ray Mickens-in-his-prime type of player. Turned out, he wasn't even a low-rent version of Mickens. He was one of the very, very few Raiders that I actively hated while he was still a member of the team. Thank God for Charlie Casserly.
1/23_Napoleon Harris, LB, Northwestern - I thought for sure that Napo was going to be the guy that finally brought the heat from the outside. I was stunned when they moved him to Mike and doubly-stunned when they axed Greg Biekert (a favorite of mine for many years) to make it happen.
2/53_Langston Walker, T, California - I was really excited about this pick in this draft. Of all of our draft picks, I thought Langston was going to be the one guy who was going to shine the brightest. I had him down as the seamless successor to Lincoln Kennedy.
2/55_Doug Jolley, TE, Brigham Young - I had no idea who Doug Jolley was and i was pissed that we'd take him while Antonio Bryant was still out there.
5/147_Kenyon Coleman, DE, UCLA - I liked the pick and I remember being completely pissed off when we eventually traded the guy to the Cowboys. I still think that the guy showed some nice flashes and I still get a little irritated when I think back on it.
6/189_Keyon Nash, DB, Albany State - A guy I knew nothing about, but I have a habit of rooting for late round safeties. I don't know why it is so, but it is. Nash was no different.
6/197_Larry Ned, RB, San Diego State - I know a lot of people were high on the guy. I seem to remember him getting axed in pre-season and whole bunch of people raised hell about it. Me, personally, I was fairly ambivalent about the guy. If I remember right, it came down to Ned or Randy Jordan and I like Jordan better anyway.
7/235_Ronald Curry, WR, North Carolina - I remember laughing my ass off when this happened because I knew LordKadghar would blow a gasket. I also remember that he was a player without a position for a while. He was going to be a return guy (and I was very criticial of him in that role) and I think we tried to convert him to a DB at one point. I'm glad things have worked out for the guy
That said, I'm not a journalist. I'm a fan and I have the liberty to write emotionally or nostalgically if I so choose. And I do, in fact, so choose...
2004
1/2_Robert Gallery, T, Iowa - I remember saying at the time that I thought that everyone who said that Gallery compared to Ogden, Pace, or Boselli was out of their rabid assed minds. While I certainly didn't expact him to struggle as much as he has, I wasn't nearly as sold on him as a lot of people were. If I recall correctly, my pre-draft man-crush was on none other than Roy Williams, WR, Texas, for most of the build up to the draft, until I came up with a brilliant strategy to trade down into the late first and grab whichever RB fell, Stephen Jackson or Kevin Jones.
2/45_Jake Grove, C, Virignia Tech - I loved this pick because I have faith in Oakland's ability to evaluate centers and also because of Grove's reputation as being a nasty son of a bitch. I loved it even more when it came to light after the draft that the Raiders went into it knowing that Barrett Robbins' attempts to come back were permanently ended by a knee that was never going to get better. With Gallery and Grove in the first two rounds, I figured we were SURELY seeing a return to smashmouth running.
3/67_Stuart Schweigert, S, Purdue - Again, I was thrilled with the pick. I honestly didn't anticipate Schweigert falling this far. While a lot of people bag on Stu, I think he's a solid starter for us.
4/99_Carlos Francis, WR, Texas Tech - Didn't like this pick at all. Yeah, he's fast... but he's also smaller, and came from Goddamned Trailer Trash University and their gimmick offense.
5/134_Johnnie Morant, WR, Syracuse - Liked this pick, though I was cautious due to Morant's rep for "catching the hard ones, dropping the easy ones." Nowadays, I'm excited to see if Morant can't up his role and production in Kiffin's offense.
6/166_Shawn Johnson, DE, Delaware - I don't recall a single damned thing about this particular kid.
6/182_CodySpencer, LB, North Texas - Wasn't this the kid that Limee correctly predicted in the L'il Al contest?
7/245_Courtney Anderson, TE, San Jose State - I liked this pick for all the wrong reasons. Personally, I thought that with Courtney's size and speed they were going to try a patented Raider relocation experiment and play him at DE. Although Courtney hasn't turned into the kind of TE you want starting all the time, you can't say that he hasn't outplayed his 7th round status.
7/255_Andre Sommersell, LB, Colroado State - I remember liking this kid, but I can't honestly tell you why.
2003
1/31_Nnamdi Asomugha, CB, California - I remember being very, very upset by pick 31. I honestly felt that the Raiders were going to go DB here and my boy Sammy Davis, the Candyman, from Texas A&M's vaunted Wrecking Crew defense would have been perfect... had the Chargers not selected him one pick ahead of us. Still, I had us trading up in the second round of this draft to select Nnamdi and I was convinced that the kid could be a player, so I wasn't TOO pissed off.
1/32_Tyler Brayton, DE, Colorado - I recall being a bit underwhelmed with this pick from the get-go. I felt like after the first 4 DEs went in the top 15 of the draft that year, there weren't particularly any standout ends out there. To me, Brayton was no different than say, Kenny Peterson, who went in round 3 (though it did surprise me that Peterson dropped that low at the time). I recall wanting to get Anthony Adams (DT, Penn State), Boss Bailey (LB, Georgia), or Terry Pierce (LB, K-State), all of whom went in the 2nd before we picked again.
2/63_Teyo Johnson, TE Stanford - I seem to remember being pissed off at this selection, although I know a LOT of people were fans of it. The guy was too damned slow for my tastes. I remember before the draft, there was a "who do you NOT want" thread... and Teyo was one of the guys that I listed.
3/83_Sam Williams, LB, Fresno State - A very under-the-radar guy, as most people heard the name called and said, "um, who?" I was no different. That said, I defended him vigorously (and still do) when there was so much backlash against him regarding the "push ups" and his injuries.
3/96_Justin Fargas, RB, Southern California - I remember being very happy with this pick. Fargas' size and speed measurables were freakin' amazing and I honestly thought that this kid would be making the big plays that Kaufman used to make.
4/129_Shurron Pierson, DE, South Florida - Tell me, who didn't freakin' love Shurron Pierson while the Raiders had him? I remember a whole lot of bitching when we let him go.
5/167_Doug Gabriel, WR, Central Florida - Liked the kid from the word "go." I still do. And, just think, now that we go a 5th for him, we essentially drafted him for free... or something.
6/204_Dustin Rykert, T, Brigham Young - Don't recall much about him.
7/246_Siddeeq Shabazz, SS, New Mexico State - In the pre-season, Siddeeq Shabazz was playing safety against Green Bay, when the Packers connected on a deep throw to Robert Ferguson (whom I had lobbied hard for the Raiders to draft, via my double secret raiders.com logon and by passing coded messages through hawaiianboy to Willis). Shabazz just fucking unloaded on Ferguson. I mean, he just leveled the poor bastard. After I saw that, I was completely on this guy's bandwagon. Of course, he got flagged 15 yards on the play but, whatever...
7/262_Ryan Hoag, WR, Gustavus Adolphus - What I'll always remember about this "Mister Irrelevant" pick is when Chris Berman held up a copy of Kiper's draft guide and flipped to the page abotu "Mister Irrelevant." Who was the guy on the page? Yep... Ryan Hoag. I don't get as bothered by Kiper as a lot of folks do nowadays.
2002
1/17_Phillip Buchanon, CB, Miami - I can't think of anybody who wasn't thrilled with this pick. Pre-draft projections had Buchanon as a top ten talent. When we moved up to get him, it blew me away. I thought he was going to be at worst a Ray Mickens-in-his-prime type of player. Turned out, he wasn't even a low-rent version of Mickens. He was one of the very, very few Raiders that I actively hated while he was still a member of the team. Thank God for Charlie Casserly.
1/23_Napoleon Harris, LB, Northwestern - I thought for sure that Napo was going to be the guy that finally brought the heat from the outside. I was stunned when they moved him to Mike and doubly-stunned when they axed Greg Biekert (a favorite of mine for many years) to make it happen.
2/53_Langston Walker, T, California - I was really excited about this pick in this draft. Of all of our draft picks, I thought Langston was going to be the one guy who was going to shine the brightest. I had him down as the seamless successor to Lincoln Kennedy.
2/55_Doug Jolley, TE, Brigham Young - I had no idea who Doug Jolley was and i was pissed that we'd take him while Antonio Bryant was still out there.
5/147_Kenyon Coleman, DE, UCLA - I liked the pick and I remember being completely pissed off when we eventually traded the guy to the Cowboys. I still think that the guy showed some nice flashes and I still get a little irritated when I think back on it.
6/189_Keyon Nash, DB, Albany State - A guy I knew nothing about, but I have a habit of rooting for late round safeties. I don't know why it is so, but it is. Nash was no different.
6/197_Larry Ned, RB, San Diego State - I know a lot of people were high on the guy. I seem to remember him getting axed in pre-season and whole bunch of people raised hell about it. Me, personally, I was fairly ambivalent about the guy. If I remember right, it came down to Ned or Randy Jordan and I like Jordan better anyway.
7/235_Ronald Curry, WR, North Carolina - I remember laughing my ass off when this happened because I knew LordKadghar would blow a gasket. I also remember that he was a player without a position for a while. He was going to be a return guy (and I was very criticial of him in that role) and I think we tried to convert him to a DB at one point. I'm glad things have worked out for the guy
