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Revisiting 20 early predictions from last May. How did I do? I said then I was as steadfast as a politician making campaign promises. I only changed one before the season began (projected win total). Lets take a look. 1. The quarterback depth chart will be Jason Campbell, Bruce Gradkowski, JaMarcus Russell barring injury. 2/3 right? 1/2 right? It was 2/3 correct when the season started. Conservatively, 1/2 right. Who cares about the 3rd QB? Score: 0.5 2. The Raiders will win nine games or more. Close, but no cigar. I later amended this prediction to eight games, but I have to stick with my May prediction here. Score: 0 3. Darren McFadden will have 1500 all-purpose yards Nailed it. (Jack Black voice) Score: 1 4. The offensive line will continue to be Achilles Heel of the team. Debatable? Not in my mind. Score: 1 5. The Raiders will have a top ten defense. By yards, the Raiders ranked 11th. Again, I was very close. No credit for being close. Score: 0 6. The Raiders will have a top 15 run

Stanford Routt received a new contract for $31 million over three years with about $10 per year over the first two years. Richard Seymour will be paid in the $12-15 million per year range for the next two years. Kamerion Wimbley will receive a one-year franchise tender around $10 million. Throw in $8 million to John Henderson and a ham sandwich for Rock Cartwright and you have about $80 million worth of spending on players. $80 million is a lot of money in a normal NFL off season, but it is even more considering the uncertainty surrounding the CBA. There are still free agents to be signed too. Nnamdi Asomugha, Michael Bush, Zach Miller, Michael Huff and Robert Gallery are all potentials. While the Routt contract would seemingly indicate the end of the Nnamdi Asomugha era, don't be surprised if Al Davis continues to open his wallet for his players, including Asomugha. Signing players before a new CBA is signed is risky business. The market for players could completely change under t

Chuck Bresnahan isn't going to make the Raider Nation do back flips. With every passing day it seems as though Bresnahan will be named to lead the defense. When that announcement is made is a mystery. Winston Moss, Darren Perry, almost anyone would have invigorated a weary fan base. Bresnahan, unfortunately, isn't that guy. It will be tough for him to be that guy, no matter how the Raiders had announced his hire. Still, the Raiders are doing Bresnahan no favors in stringing out the announcement. With every passing hour it seems as though Bresnahan is the default choice. Moss and Perry spurned the Raiders, or simply wouldn't roll over for Al Davis' stringent demands on scheme and player usage. After a decent season, the fans are still looking for the Raiders to rise. Every possible positive story should be promoted like crazy by the Raiders public relations and marketing departments. There was an opportunity for the Raiders to sell Bresnahan. He was the man who led the R

$15 million per season is a lot for Richard Seymour , right?   You will read no shortage of articles about how the Raiders overpaid and that Seymour used his leverage to get yet another barrier-breaking deal from Al Davis.   The part of this deal that everyone is ignoring is the length. Two years. Seymour will be 34 when the contract is up.   By singing Seymour for two years, the Raiders ensured they would be able to walk away from Seymour in two seasons should his play decline. Seymour ensured that he had one more shot at free agency before he is too old.   This is mutually beneficial for both sides .   Take this deal and spread it out over four years. That is $5.5 guaranteed per season. Is that out of line with what Seymour ’ s market value?   Would $ 7 million guaranteed over three seasons be out of line for Seymour? No .   The Raiders are just going to pay Seymour up-front, should his play decline they aren ’ t saddled with additional dead contract weight.  

Raiders running back Michael Bush was arrested for OWI. Also known as a DUI. MSNBC Story It is unclear at this point what kind of discipline he could face since a new CBA hasn't been worked out. He could be subject to additional testing or more.

By Rick Drummond, Profootballfocus.com It would be hard to argue that this wasn’t the most outstanding position group for the 2010 Oakland Raiders (though the running backs could make a case for themselves.) With impact performances coming from all spots along this 4-man front, a foundation was established for an improved defense and some enthusiasm about the future. In a 4-3 defense, there is typically a pass-rushing force coming off one edge or the other and some combo of blocker-eating big bodies in the middle. Interestingly, the final version of the Raider D-line boasted two pass-rushing beasts inside and two run-stuffing edge players. For veterans Tommy Kelly and Richard Seymour, the battle cry clearly was not “Let’s keep Rolando clean!” The two did not spend much time occupying blockers as they fully embraced the “cut it loose” mentality and spent the season slicing through gaps. As a result, both ranked among the top four pass-rushing DT's in the league as rated by profootba

Three years ago to the day I posted my first blog in this space. Well, to be honest, I am not sure when it all started, but by the records I have it was the first post. It has grown and mutated. Some of you have been here since the early stages. Allow me to say thank you for sticking around. I have my good days and I have my bad days and I put as much effort as a man can put into it and still have a healthy life. If I was a bachelor, taking up ridiculous amounts of time blogging about a team that hasn't been good for a while would be borderline acceptable, but for a married man it is borderline insane at times. My wife allows the insanity. She is truly amazing. She keeps everything going, even when I am busy mashing keys or tweeting about the latest Raiders news, she is there supporting me. She is the hidden formula that keeps this thing afloat and she's one heck of a blogger herself. No, she isn't much of a football fan, but she knows it is a part of who I am. So thanks fo

It was an innocent poll question, with somewhat surprising results so far. Who will be the Raiders next defensive coordinator? That is and was the question. Among the candidates listed, Winston Moss emerged as the clear front runner. Winston Moss has more than doubled the number of votes of Darren Perry. Current Defensive Line Coach Mike Waufle is in third. Few people support the return of Chuck Bresnahan as the defensive coordinator. So far there are zero votes for Kevin Ross and just one for Keith Butler and Willie Shaw. Raider Nation wants Winston Moss, but do the Raiders? Does Al Davis? Will Moss be allowed to interview? Does he want to interview? If he interviews would he be interested in the job? I find little reason to believe the Raiders would wait until after the Super Bowl unless Al Davis at least wanted to talk to a few coaches from the two teams that were playing. The Raiders were careful to say Bresnahan was just a defensive coach. Not exactly a vote of confidence