Michael Crabtree or Darrius Heyward-Bey: The Great Debate

There has been constant chattering about the big mistake the Oakland Raiders made in selecting Darrius Heyward-Bey over a much more talented player in Michael Crabtree.

I won't lie, I had the Raiders taking Heyward-Bey in my last mock draft. I had this happening because Al Davis loves speed receivers who have decent hands.

Heyward-Bey will be a bust in the pros. He reminds me way too much of Troy Williamson, the former first-rounder for the Minnesota Vikings.

I would like for Raiders fans to debate on whether or not Heyward-Bey should have been the pick.


Darrius Heyward-Bey

Heyward-Bey had a good college career with the Maryland Terapins. His junior season was his worst by far.

Heyward-Bey only had 42 catches for 608 yards in his junior campaign. Nonetheless, he was still expected to be a first-round selection.

He won the Terapins' 2007 Offensive Player of the Year Award. If he would have come out, Heyward-Bey's stock would have been at a top 10 pick range.

When it comes to fruition, Heyward-Bey would end up being a top 10 pick nonetheless.

At the combine, Heyward-Bey ran a 4.3 40-yard dash. This number was the fastest amongst all of the receivers who attended the combine.

His stock rose from this moment from an early second-round pick to a mid-to-late first-round selection.

The question is, why did the Raiders feel the need to draft Darrius Heyward-Bey so early in the first round?

Oakland has a group full of average receivers who are very young and have extreme amounts of potential for the future.

Johnnie Lee Higgins and Chaz Schilens are both speedy receivers who will eventually be a factor of some sort on the Oakland offense.


Michael Crabtree

Crabtree was still available with the seventh overall pick, but the Raiders felt the need to pass on such a great player because, well, they are the Oakland Raiders, and they make dumb decisions quite often.

Crabtree was a tremendous athlete coming out of high school. When he chose to play with Texas Tech, the Red Raiders fans knew that they had a star coming to play for them on Saturdays.

In his red-shirt freshman season, Crabtree was named to the Big 12 first team. Crabtree had nearly 2,000 yards receiving and 22 touchdowns.

Nobody could stop Crabtree. He was an amazing athlete who could get the ball at any location.

His sophomore season numbers were way down compared to the year before.

Crabtree only had 1,165 yards and 19 touchdowns. These numbers were still great but down from the previous season.

Crabtree was a surefire top-five pick all the way back in January.

After not performing at the 2009 combine, Crabtree's stock fell out of the top five overall picks.

When Crabtree was on the board at the No. 10 overall pick, the San Francisco 49ers had to select him.

When it comes to what I've just said, why didn't the Raiders do the obvious thing and select the better receiver, Michael Crabtree?

I'm not dissing what the Raiders did with their pick, but they could have gotten much better value at that point in time.

I still believe that Heyward-Bey will be a decent player, but he will not come close to the success that Crabtree will have.

Congratulations to the San Francisco 49ers. You got a fantastic player who the Oakland Raiders should have selected.