Key to 2014 Draft and Future of the Raiders!

[SoulPatrol]

Happy new year!

I've been thinking a lot about the next year...what with all the bowl games and all. Mainly, the draft has really been on my mind. I have the answer, but will anyone listen? I believe most long time Raider fans have the answer, but given our current management and ownership, their recent record, I fear we are doomed for more sorrow, before much success.

You see, the secret to the NFL draft IMO is not about who scored the most TDs in college, who has the biggest arm or mobility, or what position is drafted. The key, like anything is finding real football players. What does that mean? Well, to me it means guys who sort of define themselves as football guys. Ask most people the question, "Who are you?" They'll answer not about who their inner person is, but what they do. "I am an engineer", "I am a bus driver", etc. What we need are guys, who in the depths of their mind love the game, who in the depths of their souls are football players. Guys like this, in any profession are tireless workers. More importantly, they are guys who will get it done at any cost. I believe they are guys who take complete and utter ownership of whatever is going on, and will not be stopped easily, or dissuaded from succeeding.

I put it to you that this is the reason why Peyton Manning became a HOFer, and Ryan Leaf went to the sidelines. This is why Jamarcus Russell became a punchline, and Joe Montana, or Rich Gannon became successful underdogs. These are guys like Jerry Rice, who couldn't stand being off the field so much so that he rushed his return back from what could have been a career ending injury for many. It is people like Jon Gruden, whose fake snarl around the football field made him a sensation and got him the name Chucky. Eventually, everyone realized that actually the snarl wasn't fake.

We need a real set of football guys with this draft. We are weak at nearly every position. In fact, we may be weaker at more positions than any other team in the NFL. We have even greater challenges -
1. We do not have good culture
2. We do not have a solid locker room
3. We do not have great mentors developmental projects can learn from
4. We don't have great coaches, or great management
5. We don't have great ownership
6. We don't have a great track record of hard work, or ethical practice
To be blunt, we don't got S-H-I-T!

Given the above it is all the more important we don't draft developmental projects, one game wonders, one year wonders, players that need motivation, players that need to chased around to practice. In essence, we have shown a distinct inability to develop and nurture anyone, who doesn't have most of it figured out already. If only, Peyton Manning, or Andrew Luck were around when we ended up with Jafatcus.

What am I getting at. My friends, it is time to stop taking poor chances on the likes of DJ Hayden. It is time to stop talking about QBs like Hundley, who everyone realizes has tremendous talent, but needs a lot of work (I mean who will mentor him? McGloin? Allen? Pryor?). We need to find pre-polished and pre-packaged guys for at least the next several years. Grinder, road grader, blue collar guys who will go out their and fight every week and love doing it! We need guys who have very few question marks and way more answers.

In other words, we need to stop chasing the miracle and starting taking the medicinal cure, because this disease of complacency and accepting being average that has infected the Oakland Raiders for over a decade's worth of time has a known cure. This is the cure. The cure is finding guys like what I described, who are not always sexy draft picks, but anchor a line for a decade, or hold up a secondary for a decade, or make tackles from the backfield for a decade. The cure is, to cure the culture, or we are screwed permanently, and their isn't a coach on 7 continents and Mars who can turn it around.

Now, who do we draft? I don't know, and I doubt the Raider management will do the right things. However, to me, the answer right now is not Teddy Bridgewater who hasn't played competition. It is not even Jadeveon Clowney (who I like a lot), who has work ethic questions! It is not Brett Hundley who is unpolished.

I don't have the answer, but I believe the best bet for this team right now is to go after guys like Jake Matthews, Will Sutton, Carl Bardford, etc. I am not saying any of these guys are the right answer, or the other guys won't be successful. I just don't think they would be successful in the Oakland Raiders of now!

Jon Gruden once said, "The best way to change a losing culture is by winning"...with that sentiment of obviousness...I say the best way to change the entire culture of the Oakland Raiders is by bringing in guys that have a different culture.

Happy New Year Raider Nation!!!

[DeadRinger]

While I appreciate and agree with the assertion that we need to change the culture, I disagree witht he approach. Because you just can't do that with draft picks. The guys are too young and impressionable. It is FAR more likely they will be changed by our culture for the worse than that they will change our culture for the better.

If our current coaching staff stays intact, there's only ONE guy I would trust to develoip a first round pick - Sparano. So we should probably go with the best available o-lineman if what you're looking for is absolute certainty.

But I personally would NEVER pick an o-lineman in the top 15. I don't care how great a prospect he is.

More importantly I don't particularly care what our coaching and management situation is either. There's nothing we can do about that and I would never let it stop me from making the RIGHT decision for the team. I would pick the guy I believe has the most ability to help us win. The most important position on the field is QB. Period. There are somne great ones available. We need to pull the trigger on one of them and build around him.

[Tenebrous]

While I do not completely agree - great post. Yes, winning will improve a locker room, but coaching is just as important to winning as is a locker room - see Jackson's Raiders or Jackson's Lakers. Here, I agree with Dead - Sporano is the best coach the Raiders have on offense, if not the entire team.

With respect to Hundley and Bridgewater, I am also inclined to disagree with you. While I do not like either QB with a top 5 or even a top 10 pick, I wouldn't be opposed to drafting either in the 2nd or 3rd round. Problem is neither is likely to be there, especially Bridgewater, who I believe is benefiting from his light schedule. So, if the Raiders were to pick up Hundley - outside of their 1st pick - I would see that as a good move.

Hundley was a top QB prospect coming out of highschool in Arizona and could have played nearly anywhere he wanted, but chose to come to a program that was rebuilding. In my view, that speaks about his character - willing to take on a challenge, not choosing the easiest route. Yes, he needs polishing, but he will undoubtedly put in the work. Also, from watching many games on him, he is not mentally soft and he does not get down after making a mistake; I've seen him make a bad pass only to come right back in the next possession, make an adjustment, and get it right.

[bigboy3333]

JMO,..Hundley need to stay in school 1 more year,...right now i see him as 4th rounder maybe....Raiders do need an upgrade at QB!

[Tenebrous]

JMO,..Hundley need to stay in school 1 more year,...right now i see him as 4th rounder maybe....Raiders do need an upgrade at QB!

Tend to agree with you here (though he should go higher than the 4th), but after his stellar performance against Virginia Tech in the Bowl Game, he may feel that it is best to strike while the iron is hot.

[DeadRinger]

We already have Terrelle Pryor on the roster. We don't need to draft his clone.

[Tenebrous]

We already have Terrelle Pryor on the roster. We don't need to draft his clone.

Ok, you must be joking. I have watched both play and they are two different players. Hundley is not the physical athlete that Pryor is - Hundley is a pass first quarterback that can run, Pryor is an athlete trying to learn to be a quarterback. That difference is notable.

[SoulPatrol]

While I appreciate and agree with the assertion that we need to change the culture, I disagree witht he approach. Because you just can't do that with draft picks. The guys are too young and impressionable. It is FAR more likely they will be changed by our culture for the worse than that they will change our culture for the better.

If our current coaching staff stays intact, there's only ONE guy I would trust to develoip a first round pick - Sparano. So we should probably go with the best available o-lineman if what you're looking for is absolute certainty.

But I personally would NEVER pick an o-lineman in the top 15. I don't care how great a prospect he is.

More importantly I don't particularly care what our coaching and management situation is either. There's nothing we can do about that and I would never let it stop me from making the RIGHT decision for the team. I would pick the guy I believe has the most ability to help us win. The most important position on the field is QB. Period. There are somne great ones available. We need to pull the trigger on one of them and build around him.

Like I said, I am not saying to draft these specific guys. I was just saying to draft guys like this, true football players. QBs are not "Great" in the NFL, until, they become "Great" in the NFL. Where as QB is the most important position in the field, it also does not mean the QB has to be the only player you can build around. A solid system QB, who doesn't make lots of mistakes can win Super Bowls too, with a good team. The Baltimore Ravens proved that. Seattle may prove it again this year.

As far as OL in the top 15. I believe football games are won in the trenches, not by who can throw furthest, or run fastest. The skill position guys are great and the make the game of football the exciting sport it is. However, games are won on the line of scrimmage IMO. If you like at the very best OL in history, many of them were drafted in the top 15. Here is a small list of HOFers.

1. Anthony Munoz
2. Bruce Matthews
3. Jonathan Ogden
4. Tony Bosselli
5. Willie Roaf
6. Mike Munchak

There are so many more. Again, I am not saying the top 15 is the only place to get great OLmen, or that OLmen not in the top 15 aren't worth a damn, that would be far from true. Also, I am not saying NOT to build through FA as well. My point is, that we need to draft players who make an impact, and are football guys, much more than we need sexy QBs right now, who are very unproven. If Peyton Manning, or Andrew Luck fell to us, I would be all over it, because those guys had very few question marks, and neither were one hit wonders like Ryan Leaf, or............Jafatcus Russel

[SoulPatrol]

While I do not completely agree - great post. Yes, winning will improve a locker room, but coaching is just as important to winning as is a locker room - see Jackson's Raiders or Jackson's Lakers. Here, I agree with Dead - Sporano is the best coach the Raiders have on offense, if not the entire team.

With respect to Hundley and Bridgewater, I am also inclined to disagree with you. While I do not like either QB with a top 5 or even a top 10 pick, I wouldn't be opposed to drafting either in the 2nd or 3rd round. Problem is neither is likely to be there, especially Bridgewater, who I believe is benefiting from his light schedule. So, if the Raiders were to pick up Hundley - outside of their 1st pick - I would see that as a good move.

Hundley was a top QB prospect coming out of highschool in Arizona and could have played nearly anywhere he wanted, but chose to come to a program that was rebuilding. In my view, that speaks about his character - willing to take on a challenge, not choosing the easiest route. Yes, he needs polishing, but he will undoubtedly put in the work. Also, from watching many games on him, he is not mentally soft and he does not get down after making a mistake; I've seen him make a bad pass only to come right back in the next possession, make an adjustment, and get it right.

I wouldn't be opposed to taking either in the 2nd, 3rd rounds, etc. However, I was referring more to the 1st round pick. Hundely was certainly a top prospect, but he is far from finely polished. Therefore my point was to not take guys with so many question marks early on because this team doesn't have the needed culture to help these kinds of guys succeed.

[DeadRinger]

We already have Terrelle Pryor on the roster. We don't need to draft his clone.

Ok, you must be joking. I have watched both play and they are two different players. Hundley is not the physical athlete that Pryor is - Hundley is a pass first quarterback that can run, Pryor is an athlete trying to learn to be a quarterback. That difference is notable.

Don't give me this "you must be joking" horseshit when you clearly haven't even looked into it.

Over his last 2 games Hundley RUSHED for 241 yds and 4 TDs. He passed for 434 yds and only 2 TDs. They won both.

The game before that against AZ State he only rushed for 5 yds and 0 TDs, and they lost.

Over the entire season he passed for 24 TDs and rushed for 11. Rushing yards accounted for 19.6% of his total yds from scrimmage.

By contrast Pryor threw for 7 TDs and rushed for 2. Rushing yds were 24.3% of his game.

But the real eye-opener comes when you take a look at Pryor's final season at Ohio State and compare it to Hundley's 2013. I'll give you three hints: a) in 2010 at Ohio State, rushing yards were 21.4% of Pryor's offense, b) he threw for 3 more TDs than Hundley and c) he rushed for only 4 TDs. Hundley relies even MORE on his legs to win than Pryor did.

You, sir, are delusional and it's very out of character for you. These are very similar players.