There were whispers all afternoon that it could be Stevie Brown being cut.
He was just removed from Raiders.com. Although no formal announcement has been made.
This comes as a bit of a shock to many who thought it would be a receiver or Hiram Eugene.
Andy Slater correctly called this cut after predicting earlier that Mike Mitchell was going to be cut.
There are still some questions to be answered.
Update: Brown is now listed as released on the transactions page.
Earlier this evening Michael Lombardi reported on NFL Network that one high profile name that could be traded on Saturday was Raiders safety Michael Huff.
Lombardi confirmed that Huff was on the bubble to me on Twitter.
Also noteworthy was a report from radio host Andy Slater of 640 WFTL out of South Florida that Mike Mitchell would be cut on Saturday.
There is no reason to put much stock in these rumors at this moment. I believe both to be ridiculous. Of course, nothing is shocking to those that follow the Raiders.
Every year and in every city the preseason is when the fans watch to see if they have the next impact rookie.
This year’s top crop includes Rolando McClain, Lamarr Houston, Jared Veldheer, Jacoby Ford, Bruce Campbell and Walter McFadden.
What is often lost in the rush to evaluate the rookies is just how much a second year player can improve and make an impact for a team. One recent example is Tyvon Branch.
Branch, as a Sophmore, lead all safties in tackles. He figures to be an impact player for the Raiders in 2010 and beyond.
The 2010 sophmore crop includes: Darrius Heyward-Bey, Mike Mitchell, Louis Murphy, Matt Shaughnessy, Desmond Bryant and Marcel Reece. These sophmores will all see significant playing time in 2010.
The offseason has been filled with reports on Heyward-Bey’s improvement. He’s looked like the best player on the field at times and his route running is much better. All the reports a vast departure his the drop-filled 2009.
Mike Mitchell’s rookie campaign was hindered by a hamstring that kept him out of camp and into the regular season. In limited duty late in the year he had success, but questions remain about his coverage skills.
Will Murphy be able to build on a successful 2009. You would think the addition of Jason Campbell would enable Murphy to take a leap forward, but unless Chaz Schilens remains on the sideline, Murphy could be forced to in the slot. Murphy will have to compete for reps with a more crowded core of young receivers.
Matt Shaughnessy has been so impressive the Raiders cut Greg Ellis and moved Richard Seymour to defensive tackle. Equally strong against the run and pass, Shaughnessy’s progression will go a long way towards determining the success of the Raiders defensive line in 2010.
Desmond Bryant is all of the sudden fourth on the depth chart at defensive tackle. This isn’t a terrible problem to have. Bryant still needs to become more consistent, but he can be a valuable member of the defensive line with limited snaps. Giving the aging Henderson, Kelly and Seymour a breather will be his primary role, but that’s not to minimize it. The Raiders will expect minimal drop-off in play when they call on Bryant’s number.
While many fans will keep a close eye on the rookies, perhaps it is the sophmores that are hungry and primed to make an impact in 2010.
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Nnamdi Asomugha is a lock to start when healthy. No surprise there, but what about the rest of the secondary?
Chris Johnson is penciled in as the starter opposite Asomugha, but he was picked on last year. Quarterbacks completed 64% of passes thrown at Johnson. He was burned for six touchdowns and quarterbacks had a staggering 101.2 rating throwing at Johnson. Johnson did defense 12 passes and intercept 3 others, but it is clear Johnson takes a lot of risks.
Is the risk worth the reward?
The Raiders only other options at cornerback are rookies and Stanford Routt.
Routt was actually worse than Johnson in limited snaps. Quarterbacks had rating of 123.0 while completing 29 passes out of 41. That is 70.7% completion percentage! He also gave up two touchdowns.
The Raiders have one good option: move Michael Huff to cornerback.
Huff was a corner prospect coming out of college. Many teams thought he was best suited in coverage to cover up his inability to tackle. Raiders forced a square peg into a round hole the first few years, with Huff playing strong safety.
Finally, Huff was moved to free safety, but he hasn’t really developed into a good safety either. He has his moments and many people forget that he had a great start to the 2009 season, but was less than spectacular the rest of the way. His saving grace is his coverage skills. His run support has improved, but is still well below average.
Why not put Huff’s coverage skills to good use and move him to cornerback? After all, quarterbacks only completed 45.7% of passes thrown at Huff with no touchdowns for a rating of 34.2. Huff picked off three passes in his first two games and that was it, but he continued to be effective in coverage with 11 passes defended.
With Huff out of the picture at free safety, it opens up the free safety position for Tyvon Branch.
Branch had a very good year in both run coverage and pass coverage. He would need to take a developmental leap from defending tight ends to the slot receiver, but he is more than capable with his speed.
2009 second round selection Michael Mitchell was actually very good in limited snaps in 2009 and could be primed to see significantly more snaps at strong safety. To accomplish this, the logical move would be for Branch to slide over to free safety.
It is expected for a second round selection to be a starter by year two and it looks like Mitchell could be ready.
Mitchell wasn’t forced into coverage much during his rookie season, which makes this area of his game a bit of an unknown. He was thrown at just six times.
This recommendation probably comes a year early. Logically, Mitchell will probably be used more as a hybrid linebacker with the coaching staff easing him into coverage responsibilities slowly against the tight end. They would do the same with Branch, having him slowly start to cover more slot receivers as the 2010 season goes on.
This is something to monitor during camp. Expect Branch and Mitchell get a lot of work in coverage and watch closely for Branch defending slot receivers or lining up as the free safety on the weak side.
*Special thanks to Profootballfocus.com for the great stats.
Notes:
- Check out the links section for a video link to ESPN’s 30 for 30 Straight Outta L.A. directed by Ice Cube.
ESPN is at it again. People who work for ESPN can’t do anything on Twitter. They can tell you they are going to the bathroom or waking up in the morning, but anything sports related will have to go through ESPN approval process. Basically, all the ESPN peoples twitter feeds are nothing more than either A) Boring or B) tools of the empire.
Twelve NFL teams also ban Twitter among players and beat writers during camp. For most teams with open training camp, that means the fans can better use Twitter to communicate things than can the beat writer. The beat writer would have to sacrifice his access to players and coaches to tweet. Now fans will tweet incorrect information that the beat writer would otherwise would have cleared up before tweeting it. Such as why a player sat out a practice, etc.
Thankfully, our beat writers have kept the tweets rolling in from the “private” training camp in Napa. I won’t be too hard on these guys, but there seems to be a disproportionate amount of coverage on Heyward-Bey. Mitchell has probably gotten about much coverage as JaMarcus Russell.
Where are the updates about the defensive line? Where are the updates about the running backs. They seem to be few and far between. Aside from a few WR lower on the depth chart, what other players are on the bubble? This stuff better be forthcoming guys.
Now on the the updates they did provide.
DHB had hands of glue in the evening practice. For the first time he caught the ball consistently. Russell also was looking sharp. Unfortunately, both McFadden and Thomas Howard felt the practice was sub par. Interesting that the beat writers had a different take than those two. What are the coaches saying?
You have to feel good about Tyvon Branch and Mike Mitchell. Our prospects at Safety couldn’t be better.
Mario can separate himself from Barnes if Barnes misses a few practices with a sore knee and ankle. Gallery looks to be fine after his surgery and holding him out is precautionary. Center remains fluid it seems. RT could be Green’s to lose especially if Barnes isn’t receptive to a move to that side.
Thomas Howard admits he put on a couple pounds. Take that for what it is worth.
Kirk Morrison and Fabo (Ravens CB Fabian Washington) like Shark Week on Discovery channel.
I’ll have more…stay tuned.