I think Al Davis lost it

[etothep]

Remember when the Texans took Mario Williams over Reggie Bush and everyone acted like it was the stupidest thing ever????

How'd that turn out?

Williams was still a consensus top 5 pick. Even though I agreed with the pick (am enrolled at Williams' alma mater & saw him play numerous times), I still don't equate that as the same as taking someone at least 10-15 picks too high.

It's not just the Raiders. Chargers reached on English by a good 10 picks as well, but since that wasn't a top 10 pick (& they didn't have such a questionable 2nd rounder), it's looked down on more (that & AJ Smith has a much better track record on draft picks than Davis)

[OregonDuck1989]

Jerry Rice ran a 4.7 forty yard dash at the Combine.

He had exceptional route running, hands, and incredible football IQ though and thats why he is the best receiver of all time. Speed, to an extent, is overrated.


Not to mention the Raiders already have Johnnie Lee Higgins returning punts and kicks who also runs a sub 4.3 so why take a guy like Bey for kickoffs?

[etothep]

Jerry Rice ran a 4.7 forty yard dash at the Combine.

He had exceptional route running, hands, and incredible football IQ though and thats why he is the best receiver of all time. Speed, to an extent, is overrated.

Steve Largent, Fred Biletnikoff, Marvin Harrison & countless others would agree

[ragecage]

Jerry Rice ran a 4.7 forty yard dash at the Combine.

He had exceptional route running, hands, and incredible football IQ though and thats why he is the best receiver of all time. Speed, to an extent, is overrated.


Not to mention the Raiders already have Johnnie Lee Higgins returning punts and kicks who also runs a sub 4.3 so why take a guy like Bey for kickoffs?

The Raiders drafted Jessie Hester that year, another "speed" receiver, didnt work out that well.

[dps]

into the mid-late 90s

I'd say earlier than that.

There were two things that made the Raider good from the time Davis took over the team until the mid-70's. One was that their scouting was better than most teams (along with the Cowboys, the Rams, and [after 68 or so] the Steelers, they had the best scouting in that era--the Cowboys were the very best), so they came up with players other teams weren't aware of. The other thing was that they would take chances of players who wer talented but other teams didn't want because they were considered discipline problems, and basically take the attitude that they didn't care how those guys acted as long as they showed up at the games ready to play.

Eventually, the rest of the league mostly caught up in scouting. What is interesting is that both Dallas and Oakland continued to act as if they were still well ahead of most teams in scouting, and continued to make picks that were percieved as reaches. The difference was, whereas before, they only seemed to be reaches because other teams (and media commentators, too, BTW) didn't know as much about those players as the teams with the really good scouting did, after the rest of the teams caught up, those picks really were reaches. The previous strength of having better scouting than most teams became a liability because the Raiders didn't (and apparantly still don't) realize that those days were over. The Cowboys didn't realize it either at first, and that's why Gil Brandt had to go in Dallas, and why Davis needs to go (or at least step aside as the guy who makes the final decisions on personnel matters).

The willingness to take a chance on players who were perceived as discipline problems also became a liability for a while, because it seemed to go from taking a chance on talented players who weren't wanted by other teams because they were discipline problems to acquiring players simply because they were discipline problems. The Raiders and Davis appear to have recognized this, and put an end to that problem. They are still probably more willing to take a chance on a player who other teams have decided is a discipline problem than most, but they seem to at least have gone back to want the player in question to actually have talent, too.

[PotatoOfCouch13]

Scouts don't look at stats when deciding who to draft, they look at film to see footwork, instincts, hands, route running, & 'game speed' when looking WRs. They want to see if the WR takes advantage of a CB if the CB opens his hips, they want to see if he sees the safety bite on a play fake & hit the opening left by it.

Again, nobody is saying the Raiders screwed up for liking Bey better, just that they got him at a bare minimum of 10 picks too early. And yes, there are a few times when reaching has paid off such as Luis Castillo & Lofa Tatupu in 05. That doesn't make it a good idea to essentially leave draft picks on the table.

As far as his 'blazing speed,' another recent top 10 draft pick at WR with bust written all over him, Troy Williamson, was very similar to Bey. Again, if all you had to do was run fast to be a great receiver, then Olympic track stars would be going to the Pro Bowl. Route-running, knowledge of the game (such as reading defenses & being able to digest an NFL playbook), & hands are more important than being able to run a tenth of a second faster.

Not trying to be an ass or anything POC, just annoyed that someone isn't doing something about Al Davis. I mean obviously this dude is on another planet.

All valid points, and no offense taken. But what can someone do about Al Davis? He is still the owner of the Oakland Raiders, and I'm certain that he's not going to sell the team until he's dead. I don't think anyone in that organization has the cojones to stand up to him. Lane Kiffin tried to last year, and we all saw how that turned out. It's looking more and more like the 'Commitment to Excellence' is a thing of the past, and won't be coming back until the distant future.