Post by TheShadow on Mar 16, 2013 3:27:37 GMT -5
www.sfgate.com/
by Ann Killion
In the first few days of NFL free agency, the Bay Area is experiencing a split personality.
-- 49ers fans: Smug. Content.
Waiting patiently for their team to make a smart move or two. With a roster that has only a few obvious holes - kicker, backup quarterback, secondary - and a ridiculous number of draft picks, the balance sheet is in the 49ers' favor. Lots of talent. Lots of options.
-- Raiders fans: Full-fledged panic.
Realizing that their team needs pretty much everything and lacks the resources to get it. Little talent. Fewer options.
If there was deep skepticism last season about the new direction of the Raiders, it has only amplified since. General manager Reggie McKenzie seems intent on tearing the team down to the studs, ripping up the floorboards and punching out any remaining sheetrock. Fans are wondering: After a four-win season, are the Raiders intent on getting even worse?
This week the Raiders released Darrius Heyward-Bey and Michael Huff. Richard Seymour is gone. Expect Tommy Kelly and Rolando McClain to be gone soon. McKenzie couldn't distance himself further from the legacy of Al Davis if he changed the team colors to magenta and mauve and replaced the eye patch with hipster black frame glasses. McKenzie doesn't want Davis' kind of players. The problem is, he needs some kind of players.
It's a good thing that the Raiders planned to tarp off Mount Davis next season, because there's clearly not going to be much to draw fans. But who knew they were planning to tarp off a huge section of the roster as well?
This week the Raiders let some big names go and signed three second-tier free agents: Browns linebacker Kaluka Maiava, Bengals defensive tackle Pat Sims and Broncos defensive end Jason Hunter. Those signings - a far cry from the blockbuster free-agent moves the fans became accustomed to when Davis was in charge - bring the number of penciled-in starters on defense to six. The three holdovers from last year are Tyvon Branch, Lamarr Houston and Miles Burris.
In case you've forgotten in the month since the NFL season ended, it is customary to play with 11 defenders.
McKenzie came to the Raiders from Green Bay, an organization that doesn't make flashy moves in free agency. And he's with an organization that doesn't have much salary cap wiggle room. McKenzie's hands are tied to a certain extent, by circumstance and his own proclivity, but that doesn't satisfy the team's frustrated fans. Not with a second year of rebuilding ahead and little hope on the horizon.
Rebuild through the draft? Maybe, but the Raiders have more needs than the draft can provide. In contrast to the 49ers, who have an obscene 14 picks in the seven-round draft (and no place to put that many players), the Raiders have just six picks, though they may get some compensatory draft picks. They have no second-rounder, the last remnant of the Carson Palmer trade. McKenzie would almost certainly like to take his No. 3 overall pick and trade down for more, because the Raiders need warm bodies as much as anything.
Nothing speaks more to the divergence in the two local franchises than the case of Heyward-Bey. In the 2009 draft, Al Davis shocked onlookers (as usual) by taking Heyward-Bey with the seventh pick, bypassing other receivers, including Percy Harvin (who went 22nd) and Michael Crabtree. The 49ers grabbed Crabtree with the 10th pick, and the great debate ensued. Which receiver would make a greater impact sooner? Both teams were floundering in mediocrity at the time.
Four years later, Crabtree has become a star, the No. 1 receiver for a Super Bowl team. In contrast, Heyward-Bey has been set free, leaving little legacy with the Raiders. Davis' pet project eventually became a contributor, but not the kind of elite receiver he was being paid to be.
Huff was another one of Davis' draft-day surprises. Though many expected Davis to draft USC quarterback Matt Leinart in 2006, he avoided that pitfall by grabbing Huff seventh overall. Huff, too, didn't leave much impact though he is coming off his most valuable year, when he made the unusual switch from safety to cornerback to help the depleted secondary. According to Raiders beat reporter Vic Tafur, Huff declined to take a salary cut.
Raiders fans aren't the only ones who should be concerned. So should head coach Dennis Allen. Ostensibly a defensive guru, he coached a terrible defensive team to historically bad results in his first season. Now he will have even fewer weapons at his disposal.
Owner Mark Davis handpicked McKenzie, and his GM is almost certainly making these drastic moves with the assurance of job security. But Allen probably doesn't have that same comfort. Another losing season may doom him.
And from the looks of things, the Raiders are headed for more of the same. Or worse.
by Ann Killion
In the first few days of NFL free agency, the Bay Area is experiencing a split personality.
-- 49ers fans: Smug. Content.
Waiting patiently for their team to make a smart move or two. With a roster that has only a few obvious holes - kicker, backup quarterback, secondary - and a ridiculous number of draft picks, the balance sheet is in the 49ers' favor. Lots of talent. Lots of options.
-- Raiders fans: Full-fledged panic.
Realizing that their team needs pretty much everything and lacks the resources to get it. Little talent. Fewer options.
If there was deep skepticism last season about the new direction of the Raiders, it has only amplified since. General manager Reggie McKenzie seems intent on tearing the team down to the studs, ripping up the floorboards and punching out any remaining sheetrock. Fans are wondering: After a four-win season, are the Raiders intent on getting even worse?
This week the Raiders released Darrius Heyward-Bey and Michael Huff. Richard Seymour is gone. Expect Tommy Kelly and Rolando McClain to be gone soon. McKenzie couldn't distance himself further from the legacy of Al Davis if he changed the team colors to magenta and mauve and replaced the eye patch with hipster black frame glasses. McKenzie doesn't want Davis' kind of players. The problem is, he needs some kind of players.
It's a good thing that the Raiders planned to tarp off Mount Davis next season, because there's clearly not going to be much to draw fans. But who knew they were planning to tarp off a huge section of the roster as well?
This week the Raiders let some big names go and signed three second-tier free agents: Browns linebacker Kaluka Maiava, Bengals defensive tackle Pat Sims and Broncos defensive end Jason Hunter. Those signings - a far cry from the blockbuster free-agent moves the fans became accustomed to when Davis was in charge - bring the number of penciled-in starters on defense to six. The three holdovers from last year are Tyvon Branch, Lamarr Houston and Miles Burris.
In case you've forgotten in the month since the NFL season ended, it is customary to play with 11 defenders.
McKenzie came to the Raiders from Green Bay, an organization that doesn't make flashy moves in free agency. And he's with an organization that doesn't have much salary cap wiggle room. McKenzie's hands are tied to a certain extent, by circumstance and his own proclivity, but that doesn't satisfy the team's frustrated fans. Not with a second year of rebuilding ahead and little hope on the horizon.
Rebuild through the draft? Maybe, but the Raiders have more needs than the draft can provide. In contrast to the 49ers, who have an obscene 14 picks in the seven-round draft (and no place to put that many players), the Raiders have just six picks, though they may get some compensatory draft picks. They have no second-rounder, the last remnant of the Carson Palmer trade. McKenzie would almost certainly like to take his No. 3 overall pick and trade down for more, because the Raiders need warm bodies as much as anything.
Nothing speaks more to the divergence in the two local franchises than the case of Heyward-Bey. In the 2009 draft, Al Davis shocked onlookers (as usual) by taking Heyward-Bey with the seventh pick, bypassing other receivers, including Percy Harvin (who went 22nd) and Michael Crabtree. The 49ers grabbed Crabtree with the 10th pick, and the great debate ensued. Which receiver would make a greater impact sooner? Both teams were floundering in mediocrity at the time.
Four years later, Crabtree has become a star, the No. 1 receiver for a Super Bowl team. In contrast, Heyward-Bey has been set free, leaving little legacy with the Raiders. Davis' pet project eventually became a contributor, but not the kind of elite receiver he was being paid to be.
Huff was another one of Davis' draft-day surprises. Though many expected Davis to draft USC quarterback Matt Leinart in 2006, he avoided that pitfall by grabbing Huff seventh overall. Huff, too, didn't leave much impact though he is coming off his most valuable year, when he made the unusual switch from safety to cornerback to help the depleted secondary. According to Raiders beat reporter Vic Tafur, Huff declined to take a salary cut.
Raiders fans aren't the only ones who should be concerned. So should head coach Dennis Allen. Ostensibly a defensive guru, he coached a terrible defensive team to historically bad results in his first season. Now he will have even fewer weapons at his disposal.
Owner Mark Davis handpicked McKenzie, and his GM is almost certainly making these drastic moves with the assurance of job security. But Allen probably doesn't have that same comfort. Another losing season may doom him.
And from the looks of things, the Raiders are headed for more of the same. Or worse.