With the 2007 NFL Draft just around the corner, the burning question is, who should the Raiders select with the first pick in the draft? Every sports analysts and their mothers say it's going to be LSU's JaMarcus Russell. I won’t argue that. What I will argue is if he is the right fit for the Oakland Raiders.
Although there are better players out there than quarterbacks in this year’s draft, there is no question that the Raider’s desperately need a signal-caller. Since Rich Gannon took the Raiders to the Super Bowl in the 2002-2003 season, Oakland hasn’t had any kind of a threat dropping back in the pocket. Kerry Collins, Aaron Brooks, and Andrew Walters, who have most recently been Oakland’s starters, just aren’t the caliber of QBs with the ability to turn around a wretched offense.
Most scouts don’t feel that Russell or Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn, this year’s top QB prospects are team-changing players either. So we have to ask ourselves, if Oakland doesn’t feel that one of these two guys is their QB of the future, should they take another year in the cellar and just get another piece of the puzzle? Absolutely! Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech’s standout receiver, is the most talented player in this draft. If Oakland passes him up, they make the same mistake that Houston made last season by passing up Reggie Bush.
If you get a young guy like Johnson in there who wants to make his mark on the league, quarterbacks are going to be more excited about coming to Oakland. This could open the door for the Raiders to get a quality free agent or make a trade for a guy with some experience. Another thing to keep in mind is that the Raiders won’t be good in 2007 even if Russell does stand under center. This is a team which still needs offensive line help and even a talented guy with escapability is going to be among the league leaders in sacked QBs.
Highlighting the fact that this offensive line needs help shows us another way the Raiders could go that might even be better than taking a quarterback. Wisconsin’s big offensive tackle Joe Thomas could team with Robert Gallery to make the best tackle tandem in the league. If Oakland goes this route, they could focus on running the football and controlling the game-clock the way the Ravens do until they can get the right guy under center. Running backs LaMont Jordan, Justin Fargas, and newly acquired Domonic Rhodes would be happy to here news of a new tackle in town.
Teams that have been too desperate for quarterbacks have made bad decisions which have resulted in wasted draft picks such as the Chargers with Ryan Leaf and the Browns with Tim Couch. These are the stories that make you leery of going with a QB number one if you aren’t exactly positive in that player’s ability. Both of the Chargers and the Browns, I’m sure would tell you, that they were confident in both Leaf and Couch.
It looks like Oakland will try to build around a quarterback. It doesn’t appear to be the best possible move for this team to make, but that still remains to be seen. I hope we’re not saying I told you so to the Raiders in 2007.
