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When Reggie McKenzie was hired in January 2012, the Raiders had a myriad of salary cap issues, a dearth of draft picks and no elite players. Nearly two and half years later, two of those three issues have been alleviated, but the most important remains; the Raiders have no elite players. Most look at the Raiders barren cupboard of talent as an indictment against McKenzie, which to a degree is foolish. Team building is about trade-offs. Pre-McKenzie, Al Davis traded in continuity, long-term stability and salary cap flexibility year after year in his futile attempts to win now. He signed mediocre talent to mega-deals and continually swung and missed on high draft picks. His failure had significant long-term ramifications and everybody knew it. When he passed away, Hue Jackson ascended to power and traded 843 draft picks for Carson Palmer, who came fully equipped with pick-sixes aplenty and yet another terrible contract. The pre-McKenzie Raiders were kind of like hoarders. Their house was...

  Disclaimer Some strength of schedule models calculate strength of schedule based on the opponents the team has faced to date.  My model calculates strength of schedule based on all the opponents on a team's schedule.  The reason for this is because it reduces weekly fluctuations. For example, when a team plays their Week 17 game, in the traditional model their strength of schedule would change by 31 games...their Week 17 opponent's 16 games plus the additional game played by each of their prior 15 opponents.  In my model, when a team plays their Week 17 game their strength of schedule will only change by 15 games...one additional game for each of the opponents on their schedule.

Miles Burris ( @MilesBurris ) was nice enough to spend a few minutes with me to talk about where he fits into the Raiders' 2012 plans.

Defensive Tackle Alameda Ta'amu Josh Chapman DaJohn Harris   Defensive End Cameron Johnson Jared Crick Malik Jackson Jonathan Massaquoi   Outside Linebacker Ronnell Lewis Nigel Bradham Keenan Robinson Kyle Wilbur Josh Kaddu Miles Burris Travis Lewis Tim Fugger   Inside Linebacker James-Michael Johnson Emmanuel Acho   Offensive Tackle Bobbie Massie Zebrie Zanders Matt McCants Nate Potter

Profile Height: 6' 5" Weight: 313 lbs Arm Length: 32" Hand Size: 9" 40-yard Dash: 5.27 seconds Bench Reps at 225: 32 Vertical Jump: 29.5 inches Broad Jump: 8' 5" 3-Cone Drill: 7.95 seconds 20-yard Shuttle: 4.84 seconds   Stats UteZone.com   Scouting Reports CBS Sports - NFL Draft Scout National Football Post Pro Football Weekly CSN Washington Sports Illustrated Draftcountdown.com NFL.com   "This is Tony Bergstrom's football team. He's the team leader."  Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham      

The Raiders aren't making much noise in free agency and will attempt to build through the draft. Missing are five of their original seven draft selections and in their place are five players that may contribute in 2012. A couple more selections may be awarded as compensatory selections, but that is yet to be determined. What is the best case and worse case scenarios for the Raiders' 2012 draft? Not only does it depend on the players they draft, but how many they draft and how the players perform they obtained for those picks.   1st Round: Carson Palmer Hue Jackson orchestrated a trade that brought Palmer to Oakland. It was too much to give up, but what's done is done. The Raiders have their franchise quarterback, right? That's the hope. The new regime is hitching their wagon to Palmer and putting a new offense around him. There wasn't many other options for the Raiders. Best Case:  Palmer, with an offseason with the receivers and studying the offense, turns in a pro...

I asked Raider Nation to grade the draft picks on a scale of A to F. Love (A), Like (B), Wait (C), Hope D and Hate (F) were the options. Draft grades mean nothing, but what you, the fan, thinks of the draft actually does mean something. Fan grades are a reflection of how much confidence the fans have in the front office. So let's get to the grades... Stefen Wisniewski A - Love Grades: 38 B - Like Grades: 30 C - Wait Grades: 0 D - Hope Grades: 3 F - Hate Grades: 1 Overall GPA: .901 (A) Wisniewski receives a low A letter grade by the fans. His uncle's legacy in silver and black certainly had a lot to do with his reception, but the Raiders needed lineman badly also and this probably boosted his stock. Demarcus Van Dyke A - Love Grades: 2 B - Like Grades: 9 C - Wait Grades: 46 D - Hope Grades: 14 F - Hate Grades: 1 Overall GPA: .609 (D) Ouch, Demarcus Van Dyke receives a near failing grade from Raiders fans, but it is interesting to note that the vast majority voted to wait on Van ...

The Oakland Raiders tried to trade up for Colin Kaepernick, but were not successful. Instead, the Raiders made the most natural pick they could and selected Steve Wisniewski's nephew Stefen. Stefen will play center for the Raiders and become and instant fan favorite. His technique is sound and should be a starter for years. The Raiders traded their 2012 second round pick for the Patriots third, pick 94 and fourth, pick 125. The Raiders used their own third round pick to again draft the fastest player at the scouting combine in Demarcus Van Dyke. You might as well pencil in the fastest player at the combine every year. Al Davis loves his speed. Van Dyke seems like a reach, but he's got good physical tools and will be mentored by Rod Woodson. His teammate will be Stanford Routt, who was much like Van Dyke coming out of college. Van Dyke is long and lean and Hue Jackson said he felt very comfortable with the pick. With the pick acquired from the Patriots, the Raiders selected Jose...

The Raiders came into the day without a first-round draft pick and finished the day without acquiring one. Not much has changed. The Raiders still have needs and the same number of picks to work with. The only thing that happened today, 32 players were skimmed off the player pool. Colin Kaepernick is still available and so are Da'Quan Bowers and Stefen Wisniewski. Five of the top offensive tackles were taken in round one and the talent really thins out now. Raiders would be wise to look to the surplus of guards still available. Brandon Harris and Aaron Williams are two highly-rated cornerbacks that were not taken in the first round. It turns out a trade into the first round was not in the best interest of the Raiders. However, there are just a handful of top-tier players remaining that fit the Raiders most pressing needs. Don't rule out the Raiders jumping into the early second round.

Remember these are all just rumors... 1. Raiders are willing to move back into the first round for the right player. (Believed to be for Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick) 2. Al Davis doesn't think the Raiders have many needs. 3. Jimmy Smith  has been removed from the Raiders draft board (This is a purely smoke and totally incorrect, but heck I'm posting rumors here.) **Check back, more rumors are sure to fly as the day is just getting started**

The Raiders had a renaissance of sorts in 2010. A stellar draft class helped propel them to an 8-8 record and the first non-losing season since 2002. The draft is nearly a national holiday for NFL fans, but for the Raider Nation it has become the national day of prayer. Praying and hoping Al Davis doesn't do something completely crazy. Recent examples include drafting a quarterback with questionable work ethic and giving him $30 million guaranteed and drafting a raw and unproven receiver with questionable hands with the seventh overall selection. It is Al Davis who calls all the shots on draft picks and his recent track record in recent years suggested the man may have lost touch with the modern NFL. Then came 2010, with what appears to be a great haul of picks including Rolando McClain, Lamarr Houston and Jacoby Ford. The Raiders also used picks to acquire Kamerion Wimbley and Jason Campbell. Coach Davis, as new head coach Hue Jackson calls him, has just one glaring team need and ...

Fast rising prospect Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick10) talks about his visit with the Raiders, his decision to stay home for the draft, the pistol offense and more. [powerpress] Thanks to Shawn Smith (@1stladyXAMSport) and Scott Smith (@XAMSports) for making the interview happen. Special thanks to Kyle Kaepernick (@DarthKaepernick) and Rick Kaepernick (@QBDAD10) for sharing some secrets about Colin's past.

ESPN Honolulu was kind enough to have me on Sports Animals. Here is the audio. [powerpress]

It isn't often you can get a starting QB via trade. It is even more rare when you can get a starting QB for a fourth round pick two years into the future. The Raiders have added a year to Campbell's deal making him a Raider through 2011. Jason Campbell's deal in oakland will pay him $3.14 million this season and $4.5 million in 2011 according to Adam Schefter. What does this mean for JaMarcus Russell and Bruce Gradkowski? Give the reigns to Campbell or a true competition? Time will tell. So who is Jason Campbell? Some scrub that couldn't win in Washington? Not exactly. Cambpbell has improved every year of his NFL career and each year has had a new offensive coordinator. He already gives the Raiders what they want, a 60% completion percentage and 3,000 yard passer. Clearly a great draft for the Raiders. Al Davis reportedly called Kirk Morrison to thank him for his service. Classy move by the old man, Kirk was a fan favorite.

Tom Cable said in his day two press conferenc e that Lamaar Houston would play "end" in the Raiders scheme. What? A 305 pound end? Bigger than Desmond Bryant, Richard Seymour and Tommy Kelly, While it would be easy to pinpoint this as a clear 3-4 indicator, the Raiders would still be lacking the much needed Nose Tackle (Cam Thomas?) to run the 3-4 defense effectively. That isn't to say they may not play the 3-4, but Cable's unwillingness to commit to even playing the 3-4 at all is the real twist. Cable wants the media and fans to wait until mini-camp. Why he wants us to wait until then is a mystery. Is it like this year's version of the wildcat, but on defense? Why tip your hand so early if that is the case? I remember Rich Gannon specifically mentioning how much "single high safety" the Raiders were playing in a game last year and I didn't think much about it until now. Gannon went on to talk about how rare that was for the NFL. Single high safety i...

Graham Harrell - 628 Pass Attempts, 442 Completions for 5111 yards and 45 TD Chris Turner - 374 Pass Attempts, 214 Completions for 2516 yards and 13 TD Crabtree - 97 Receptions, 19 TD and 1165 yards Heyward-Bey - 42 Receptions, 5 TD and 609 Yards Crabtree had 22% of Harrell's completions, 42% of the TDs and 23% of the yards DHB had 20% of Turners completions, 38% of the TD and 24% of the yards Very comparable, but Harrell had 9 INT in those 628 attempts and Turner had 11 INT in his 374 attempts. Harrell was a much better QB in a pass happy offense. Turner was a poor QB in a run first offense, yet DHB had comparable numbers, relatively. Cable's claim that DHB would have had 50 TD in the Red Raider's offense isn't that far fetched after all. Here is a little more... Maclin 102 rec, 1260 yards, 13 TD Daniel 528 Att, 385 comp, 4335 yards, 39 TD 26% of the comp, 29% of the yards, 33% of the TDs Maclin's numbers are much better than both Crabtree and DHB in these areas. M...

PFT had a piece from Raiderbeat.com about Crabtree Dissing the Raiders. It was briefly removed from the chat and has now been re-posted . Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech "I'm not cocky at all, bigjayboogie! People talk, man, but I'm a cool guy. as for playing for the Raiders, no comment." Then later he was asked "Why did you say no commit to playing for the raiders? Does that mean you wouldn't like to be a raider." Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech "No, I'd like to play for whoever picks me." He either knows the Raiders aren't going to pick him or he thinks he is going to be gone by then or he has an unfavorable view on the Raiders. I don't think a comment like this would preclude Davis from drafting the guy, but it sure doesn't help.

So with draft week here finally, I just want to remind everyone of a few historical facts when it comes to the Raiders. 1. The Raiders have not drafted an Offensive Lineman in the first round since Robert Gallery in 2004 (Norv Turner). Before that it was Matt Stinchcomb in 1999 and Mo Collins in 1998 (Jon Gruden). Before that is was Steve Wisniewski in 1989 (Shannahan with Art Shell as an Assistant). 2. Notice the direct correlation between team sucess and drafting these lineman? 2000, 2001, 2002 - Won AFC West 1990 - Won AFC West The exception? Robert Gallery, who never played well at the position we drafted him to play. We also had Norv as Head Coach. 3. All the talk about the Raiders unorthodox offseason has got people thinking we might trade down. I find this laughable, especially now that Philly has traded away a first round pick for Jason Peters. The Raiders never trade down in the first. I don't see it starting this year. 4. Along the lines of trades, don't be surprised ...

Lets look at the defensive line as a whole, which many of us declared the weakest link of hte team last season Sapp's retirement frees up Kelly to play the 3 tech DT spot, something he had rarely been able to do but we always wanted him to do. He should do well. I expect him to do well. Losing Sapp is not a real tragedy, because although he could play, he was also slowing. Sapp knows Kelly will do well at his old spot. Warren could play the 3 tech spot, BUT even when Sapp was out of the game last year it was Brayton and not Warren playing the 3 tech spot. Warren is pretty good run defender as well and is more than capable of playing the other DT spot and also applying pressure. I expect him to start along with Kelly. Kelly also played well along with Sands in 2006 so expect that alignment quite a bit as well. Sands is the run stuffer, and hopefully he can play up to his contract...because we can't really get rid of him with that contract. Burgess has been a liability against th...

It isn't that you don't always want to get the best player; you do. However, a team can't just draft the BPA and ignore all their weaknesses. It is a balance. Too much on one side tips the scale. Talent on one side and need on the other. If they have a lot of talent, but the team doesn't have any need to place on that scale, it wont do the team any good. Likewise if the team has a great need, but they take a much lesser player it doesn't do the team any good. You want it to be as balanced as possible. Certainly if it leans a little more one way, you want it to learn towards talent as you can find ways to use a little extra talent in a place you don't need it as much. Such as a talented RB you could split wide as a receiver or a you may be able to use the player on special teams, etc. Like football, you want to be balanced. Offenses with very poor defenses don't historically (There are some exceptions) do well and vice versa. Using this strategy doesn't ...