Oakland's Virtual GM.

Video games provide a great platform for fans across the world to pickup a controller and take the reins of an NFL Franchise. The NFL Draft is now not only a fun and stressful process for the General Managers (or in the raider’s case uncle AL) but also for fans alike. This has directly resulted in more interest in the NFL draft and an opportunity to look at the affects these players will have on our virtual franchises.

After a very solid draft for the Raiders, it looks like our earth bound organization is set to improve this year, and with the development of this solid draft class, years to come ( yes I’m sipping the cool-aid yet again this year, and it tastes delicious, so deal with it).

But how will the Oakland Raiders draft affect the team on various consoles?


Rolando McClain, ILB
1st Round, Pick #8
6'3 3/4, 258 pounds, Alabama
Overall: 79

Best Attribute (s)
Play Recognition: 88
Pursuit: 88
Tackle 88

With the trade of Kirk Morrison and acquisition of the best linebacker in college, Rolando McCain, the game-based defence will be temporarily worse early in the NFL 2011 season. Although Kirk Morrison was a burden in run defence (AN ILB's primary assignment), his high statistics resulted in him receiving a higher rating (87) than most Raiders fans would agree on.

Game preparation, a strength of McClain's, was highlighted upon receiving a high rating in play recognition (as seen above). Leadership, another of McClain's strengths, is something that can't be measured on video games (or at least developers choose not to) putting him at a disadvantage. Couple this with the fact that the digitized McClain won't have as high a rating as Morrison and expect the team to be a little weaker on defence.

It's also important to note that the majority of these games provide a weekly or monthly updates based on how the player is performing in reality. So if McClain has the defensive rookie of the year season I expect he will, we will see his rating increase.

Lamarr Houston, DT (Converting to DE in the Raiders Defence)
2nd Round, Pick #44
6'3, 305 pounds, Texas
Overall: 70

Best Attribute (s)
Pursuit: 84
Power Moves: 84

Lamarr Houston's impact is very difficult to assess. My guess at the surprise Tom Cable hinted is we'll see Seymour and Houston switching between end and DT in various situations.  The major knock on our  run defence has been the ILB and DT position, but other reports and the coaches action's make me believe that DE is also a concern in the run defence. This holistic approach to fixing the run defence has me positive we can turn this around.

Enough rambling. What’s Housons impact? Game wise I see Houston starting at RDE, which gives us our best available defensive line with Shaugnessey/Seymour/Kelly/Houston. This is worse than last year with Houston coming in to replace Ellis at end, who had an 86 overall (game-wise). As a side note this will see me using Houston a whole lot this year, as one of my favourite positions to control on games is that RDE position, should be fun trying to get double digit sacks with him!

Jared Veldheer, OT
3rd round, Pick # 69 (hee hee)
6'8 312 pounds, Hillsdale
Overall: 68

Best Attribute (s)
Strength: 90

The Raiders bring in a big, muscular, athletic yet raw(much like Bruce Campbell) OT from a Division two school in Veldheer. Thought to be a project Cable believes the turn around for this guy will be much shorter than projected. Again this prediction, like the defensive line is hard to make. The only lock at his point in time is Gallery at LG, though I believe we'll see Henderson at LT again this year as he was much better in games when Gallery played alongside of him.

Again Rambling. Veldheer enters the team as one of the lowest rated lineman. Based on this it will be up to him to win a starting position at training camp for him to have any impact this year. Otherwise he's bound to sit on the bench and his overall remain stagnant, with little effect in-game or in reality.

Jason Campbell
Traded 4th round pick in the 2012 draft
6'5, 230 pounds, Auburn (wow imagine that, a fit QB! And the cheap shots continue...)
Overall: 77 (based on last years rating)

The Raiders pick up a QB with 52 starts in the NFL whose proven he can keep the ball moving down field and convert in the red zone. Jason manages this while keeping his turnovers to a minimum, though he fumbled the ball 15 times behind a terrible Washington o-line.

In game Jason Campbell isn't great and requires the player to execute smart throws to prevent turnovers. Despite this, he is far and away an improvement over our next guy Bruce Gradkowski (68). Maybe this year I’ll be able to take on my mate’s team the Seahawks and not go 3 and out against their average secondary. Also it would be nice to get the ball out before Curry comes screaming out of the wood-works to put me on my ass.

Overall it seems our defence will start off a little worse, which is no real surprise as we see rookies coming in to replace veteran experience. On offence we have a much better QB but unfortunately we didn't secure an impact player for the offensive line which won't see major improvement early. All in all, those Virtual GM's amongst us will have some new toy's to play with, which in my experience always makes for an interesting game.

Well guys that's all I have for you at this stage as ratings for selections from round four onward have not been released. Though if you found this interesting I will be keeping up with events that correlate with the game. Also be sure to check back for an analysis of those later round picks.

Thanks for reading,

By Sam Walsh.