Oakland Raiders: Draft 101, and What It Means

By this time next week, most of us are going to be tired, hoarse from yelling, and either scratching our heads, or thinking Al Davis and Tom Cable are turning the clock back.

For the people, a few things should be mentioned regarding the draft, the players we'll hope to land and what it all means in the end.

First of all, the Raiders have been really good at finding players from other teams. Jim Plunkett, Willie Brown, Rich Gannon, Todd Christiansen, Daryle Lamonica, John Matuzak and George Blanda...all came to us from other clubs. Ironic, we drafted Lance Alworth, then traded him to the Chargers for three players.

The guy who organized that deal? Al Davis, for the Chargers.

We have had some great picks though. Fred Biletnikoff, Ken Stabler, Jim Otto, Marcus Allen, Tim Brown, Matt Millen(as a player), Cliff Branch, Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, Asomugha...will our next pick be a great?

Secondly, a single pick nine times out of ten won't fix all the teams' problems. If you get a WR with a gift of running, it won't help if your Quarterback can't get his timing down. If you draft a great Running back, you better hope the Quarterback can hand off.

And if you draft a kicker or punter you better hope for a good snapper, or your holder is going to have bad days all season long.

Third, a player isn't going to be good or horrible from day one, no matter what ESPN, NFL.com or even aunt Ruth says. Let him get into camp, work out, try out, and if he fails, at least he tried. If you want to write off anyone after the fourth round, you'll miss guys like Trevor Scott, who had five sacks last year.

Shane Lechler, one of our Pro Bowlers. Or my personal favorite "junk bin" pickup in the seventh round, Greg Biekert. Sometimes you keep looking around as the day goes by. How many of use thought Chaz Schilens would have 15 receptions for the team? Or that Zach Miller was going to make people think Dave Casper was playing again?

Lastly, and i've said it before. No injuries. Last season we were snakebit from the get-go, losing Oren O'Neal, and Drew Carter and the regular season wasn't here yet. Injuries can turn a great promising pick into a nightmare.

Ask a Bengals fan how much the injury to Ki-Jana Carter hurt...then ask yourself, could you imagine what the Raiders would have done if Marcus Allen never carried for us?

Raider On, Raider Nation.