Oakland Draft: Raiders Should Pursue a WR in Round Two

Six years ago, when the Oakland Raiders reached Super Bowl XXXVII, the team had no problem dealing with having no true No.1 wide receiver on its roster.

That year, veterans Tim Brown and Jerry Rice and then-23-year-old Jerry Porter combined for 224 catches for 2,829 and 18 touchdowns.

Rice led the team with 92 grabs and 1,211 yards; Brown finished short of 1,000 yards by just 70; and Porter led the team with nine TD receptions.

You could make a case that Rice was the No. 1 guy that season, but for the nine years prior to '02, it was Brown who managed to exceed 1,000 yards each season. Porter, in the meantime, was developing into the offense's most dangerous weapon, leading the team in yards per catch and 20-plus-yard grabs. Essentially, none were more important than the other.

Now, the Raiders are stuck with a bunch of No. 2 and No. 3 wideouts, all of whom are equally ... not that great.

Ironically, one of them is Porter, who seems to have lost a step or two since the Rice/Brown days, thanks primarily to poor quarterback play and, well, Art Shell.

Alongside Porter is the talented Ronald Curry. Though extremely athletic and versatile, Curry isn't the type of guy who warrants the defensive attention that most No. 1 wideouts in the NFL do.

Both Porter and Curry have never hit the 1,000-yard receiving milestone in their careers, despite combining for 14 years in the NFL. The 29-year-old Porter hit his career peak back in 2004, when he hauled in 64 passes for 998 yards and nine touchdowns. Curry, 28, had arguably his best season this year, grabbing 55 balls for 717 yards and four TDs.

Behind the pair of 20-somethings are midseason free-agent pickup Tim Dwight and soon-to-be second-year WR Johnnie Lee Higgins. Both are speedsters who can also help out on special teams, but one (Dwight) will never be more than a slot receiver, while the other (Higgins) is still learning how to simply hang onto the ball.

That leaves a major gap for a No. 1 guy, particularly with Porter's future with the Raiders still up in the air. The 6-foot-2 wideout signed a five-year, $21 million contract back in February 2005, and he was scheduled to make $1 million in each of the next two years, but he opted out of the deal at the end of the '07 season.

If the Raiders can't strike a deal with Porter, expect them to use free agency, along with the draft, to address the problem. Bengals coach Marvin Lewis announced Wednesday that the team doesn't plan on trading 30-year-old playmaker Chad Johnson. With that behind them, the Raiders can look to the pool of available free-agent pass catchers. Topping that list is Bernard Berrian and Bryant Johnson, neither of whom is known as a particularly dominant No. 1 receiver.

With that in mind, Oakland should look to find a WR early in the draft -- maybe not top five, but in the early second round. The Raiders lost their third-rounder this year to New England in a deal for the 91st overall selection last season (used to select OT Mario Henderson), leaving a wide gap between the second and fourth round. The team can't afford to wait that long.

As of now (it's still very early), a small list of the top wide receiver prospects that could fall to the Raiders' 34th pick would be Texas' Limas Sweed, Early Doucet of LSU, Oklahoma's Adarius Bowman, Michigan's Mario Manningham and Michigan State's Devin Thomas. Keep in mind, Doucet played with Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell for three seasons with LSU; his first TD reception with the Tigers was a 12-yard strike from Russell.

Surprisingly, the Raiders haven't drafted a wide receiver in the first two rounds in eight years, when they chose Porter 30 picks after first-round kicker Sebastian Janikowski.

This time around, Oakland should look to do the same. Except maybe find a little better value in Round 1, too. No offense to kickers.

Anthony Carroll can be contacted at [e-mail]