Could Oakland Raiders Linebacker Rolando McClain Be a Bust?

All the hype surrounding Raiders second-year linebacker Rolando McClain last season led Raider Nation to believe he was to be the second-coming of Ray Lewis. Not. The truth of the matter is that disrespected former Raider, Kirk Morrison, who led the league in tackles as a rookie and sophomore was/is arguably better than the young McClain is now.

What makes it worse is that McClain has the luxury of playing behind arguably the best D-line in the league with studs like Seymour, Kelly, Houston and Shaughnessy. I don't even remember who Morrison played with as they clearly sucked.

But in typical Raider Nation fashion, their eyes are bigger than their brains, so Raider Nation clamored for the release of one of the best tacklers in the league in lieu of an unproven rookie named Rolando McClain.

McClain has been an underachiever thus far, and the Raiders need him now more than ever. This preseason the Raiders have been getting the usual ground pounding at the hands of miscellaneous unknowns, who seem to gain their confidence against a weak Raider run D. McClain seems slow to the ball and doesn't get off of blocks fluently. Maybe it's just his learning curve, but I think the Raiders would have done better keeping Kirk and drafting an outside linebacker to go with this beefy D-line.

What do you think Raider Nation? If the Raiders can't stop the run, it doesn't matter if they line up JaMarcus Russell or Tom Brady behind center. They will lose.