OK, it’s official: The Oakland Raiders found the quarterback they were looking for this offseason. In their latest attempt to upgrade a large, but unimpressive quarterback group, the Raiders are trying to salvage the starting career of disposed Washington starter Jason Campbell. Oakland gave up a fourth-round pick in 2012. That’s a bargain price for a starting quarterback. Ironically, Oakland owner Al Davis finally got his new quarterback by dealing with former charges Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen. Campbell was given a contract extension through the 2011 season. It is clear Oakland is putting its offense in the hands of Campbell. Read more I think Oakland has done a lot to improve their team this off season. This trade and the draft should get Raider fans some optimism!
I like how we've improved our defense. Adding Kimerion Wimbley and Groves via trade then McClain and Lamarr Houston with our top two picks. Interestingly Cable has said that he thinks Houston will play DE and Wimbley will play SLB with Trevor Scott at WLB. I suppose that leaves Thomas Howard on the bench. That's quite brutish starting LBing corps with OLBs who excel more rushing the passer than playing the run or in coverage. Howard should be money on passing downs but if we're not going to blitz a ton then I don't know how those two OLBs will fare. Interesting that Cable thinks Houston will play DE though. Shaugnessey looked good and I'm all for open competition to replace Greg Ellis' place on the line but we need a DT pretty badly. Houston has the body of a 3 technique DT but apparently dude has amazing strength, explosion, and leverage as well as technique which has caused him to play the run very well and show potential as a pass rusher. He could be a monster at DE but we're really in need of a DT who plays the run well. Right now we basically have 4 guys who are prototype 3 tech DTs who can also play DE- Seymour, Kelley, Bryant, and Houston. We have no 1 technique space eaters though by all accounts it seems like Houston plays the run well and is capable of this. Either way it will be great to have another DL who plays the run well no matter where he is. May stunt Shaugnessey's growth though. Overall I think our LB corps is much better than last season. I liked Howard and Morrison but they were kind of soft and not stout against the run. We really had no starting quality strong side linebacker. This offseason we really made the LB corps much bigger, more stout, better pass rushers (this will come in handy if we continue to blitz like we did the second half of the season). I'll gladly take the loss in coverage for added strength and hopefully better run defense. Especially with Huff and Branch blossoming as safeties last season I think we oughta be fine in coverage without a ton of support form our LBs. Despite losing Gregg Ellis and Gerrard Warren I think we added depth to our line as well. Bryant and Shaugnessey looked like impact players at the end of last season and we added Houston and Groves for more depth. Overall we added a few playmakers and a lot of depth to this unit. Glad we took a couple big OTs but they're both projects. Veldheer seems like a nice prospect and it was refreshing to see us grab him over Campbell in the third but for the plusses about his intelligence, size, technique, versatility, etc. he came from a DII school and will have a big learning curve. Bruce Campbell is a nice project pick but hes not contributing any time soon either. Like both the picks but it doesn't do much for whoever will start at QB for us this coming season. We're basically weak all along the line except at LG. Cable seems to think that Veldheer could have an impact right away at either T spot but I tend to doubt that. Improvements to the line have been underwhelming thus far. I like the trade for Jason Campbell but is he really better than Gradkowski? I like the stats posted in that article above. Seems like hes money in the red zone. Hes got experience. Hes big and has a big arm but is he really a good down field passer? Can anyone tell me how accurate he is? Seems like an average NFL QB at this point but I'm just not sure if hes better than Gradkowski who did pretty well throwing the deep ball and showed excellent leadership and awareness in the pocket. Good news is there will be competition and we oughta start some respectable NFL QB this season. Apparently the team will ask JaMarcus Russell to take a paycut in the cocming days and if he refuses they will probably cut him.
Having let this one settle I really like the Campbell trade a lot. Hes pretty much an average starting NFL QB. Fits our system well. Shocking as it is to type this I think we actually have a better OL and as many and probably more offensive weapons than the Redskins did last season. I'm convinced that hes head and shoulders above Gradkowski and hes a good fit for our system to boot. Our offensive situation isn't much better than the Skins' was last season but getting out of the NFC West should help him and the Raiders could very well have a solid run game to take pressure off of him.
