<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Somehow, the Oakland Raiders are still under the offseason salary spending limit. Per Nancy Gay of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Raiders were nearly $4.6 million under the cap the day before acquiring cornerback DeAngelo Hall. With Hall’s contract costing less than $2 million against the cap in 2008, the Raiders till have more than $2.6 million in cap space. But keep in mind that, during the offseason, only the top 51 salary-cap numbers count toward the cap. During the season, at least 53 player salaries must be accounted for, and as players land on injured reserve and new ones are signed to replace them, money has to be available under the cap to accommodate these transactions. So the Raiders will have to find ways to trim some cap room, especially with the fourth overall pick in the draft and now two high second-rounders. One way to reduce the number will be to sign cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha to a long-term deal, since his exclusive franchise tender will consume close to $10 million in cap room. A problem, however, will come in future years. Keeping Hall’s cap number under $2 million in 2008 only means that $68 million of the deal will hit the cap in 2009 through 2014. In our view, however, owner Al Davis doesn’t care about 2009 through 2014. He knows that he only has so many years left to try to restore the glory of the franchise. So he’s pushing all of the chips — and all of the cash — into the middle of the table right now. It might not lead to a Super Bowl trophy, but it should be fun to watch.</div> http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/03/21/...-have-cap-room/ Hall's deal only costs us 2 mils in 08? Good news. Mind you we still have guys who are likely to be cut/restructured/traded in Lamont Jordan, Stu Schweigart, Gerrard Warren, Fabian Washington, Justin Griffith. I figure Lamont, Stu, and Fabs are as good as gone, Warren will probably be re-structured, and Griffith could be cut or re-structured. Jamarcus Russell also just re-structured his contract in exchange for a 20 mil bonus. More good news: Kiffin actually has comments on the Hall signing and appears to be a part of the team. Hes clearly making fewer personnel decisions but I think hes still in as head coach. I read an interesting blog that theorized that Al asked him if he wanted to resign since Al decided he was making more personnel moves, it wasn't that Al demanded for him to resign. If Al wanted him gone, he'd be fired. Here are the comments form Raiders.com: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>“We’re very pleased about the acqusition of DeAngelo Hall to the Raiders," said Raiders Head Coach Lane Kiffin. “This, following offseason signings of Tommy Kelly. and Gibril Wilson, we feel have one of the most talented defenses in the league.” ... “I met with Mr. Davis, Lane Kiffin and the defensive coaches and I’m excited to be joining the Raiders,” said Hall. “To come out here and see all of the Hall of Famers walking around, their photos posted on the wall, the championships, it’s an amazing feeling to be a part of that history and be a part of making history. I’m also looking forward to playing with the talented players already there, and also coming in with Gibril [Wilson]. I look forward to making a contribution to the success of the Raiders.”</div> http://www.raiders.com/Common/Article.aspx?id=39478
All is good in Raider Nation. We're under the cap, still have a few contracts we can cut or trade, and everyone is onboard with Kiffin. I'm feeling at least an 8-8 year in a weak AFC West.
More comments from Lane Kiffin at the owners meeting: On trading for CB DeAngelo Hall: “Was cornerback our No. 1 need? No. But DeAngelo became available, and he is a player with great potential. . . . We couldn’t pass him up.” On replacing retired DT Warren Sapp with DE Tommy Kelly “Tommy has played three different positions for us. With Warren being a 3-technique, Tommy really hasn’t been able to flourish at what we feel is his best position. But Rob (Ryan) feels Tommy is the best 3-technique in the league.” On Kelly coming off an ACL injury: “It’s a major concern. But with Tommy being here, we have a lot of information on him. And we didn’t want to let Tommy leave. Sometimes that can overprice you. But Al (Davis) decided to pay him that, and we’re happy he accepted.” On QB JaMarcus Russell’s holdout last season: “It’s like we had him (in minicamp), and then they took him away from us. But he has been great this offseason. He is in by far the best shape since we’ve had him.” On Russell playing QB at 270-plus pounds: “He has a big-time arm and phenomenal feet for his size. He is never going to play at 260, 255 pounds. That’s not his body, that’s not who he is. As long he is 270, he is doing well. And what is the weight? Is it good weight or bad weight? Is it muscle or fat? We are more concerned with his body composition so he can give us some scrambling ability as well.” On WRs Javon Walker and Drew Carter: “We added some down-the-field threats. Carter made a lot of big plays at Carolina. With Walker, we just want to make sure he is healthy so he can have a big year like he had in Green Bay. With Jamarcus at quarterback, we felt it was important to add long-ball threats instead of possession guys.” On RB Michael Bush, who missed last season due to injury: “We look at it as if he took a redshirt year (in college). We have three guys who have played (Justin Fargas, Lamont Jordan and Dominic Rhodes), and then we have Michael, who is kind of like a bonus.” On his first year as a head coach: “Win-losses, it was definitely lower than my expectations . . . We did do some good things, played well in some spurts. But I was disappointed in the consistency, to have two blowout (losses) at the end of the year. It kind of reminds you how far away you are.” On how his players handled the losing: “We were very fortunate. We didn’t really have any issues of players lashing out at the media. For the most part, they handled themselves well.” On feeling pressure: “If you are going to worry about being fired, I think you start worrying about that the day you get hired by the Raiders. I don’t feel any added pressure. If I worried about getting fired, I would have started worrying about that from Day 1.” On the draft: “We don’t have a lot of picks. We have the No. 4 choice overall, which is significant. We could trade down, obviously. We’d love to continue to work on our defensive line. There are a couple of really good defensive lineman that may be available at 4.” On mock drafts that have the Raiders picking Arkansas running back Darren McFadden at No. 4: “He is a phenomenal player, but I don’t really think running back is a need for us.” On whether Kiffin will have an impact on who the Raiders draft: “I hope so. I wouldn’t expect it to be any different than last year.” http://www.ibabuzz.com/raidersblog/
