Oakland Raiders: Life After Al Davis

[nickelback]

I recently saw an article on BleacherReport.com talking about possible replacement owners once Al Davis kicks the bucket. The list included Al's son, Mark Cuban, Mike Shanahan and Rush Limbaugh. So since I've been wanting to start a single player dynasty for sometime, I decided to give the job of owner/GM to myself. As much as I hate the Raiders, I can't help but feel sorry for a franchise that has been run into the ground but yet still has some of the best fan support of any team in the NFL. This dynasty won't be anything special, just the challenge of turning around the pathetic Raiders. One goal I have is to move them back to their rightful home of Los Angeles. I plan on adopting some house rules based mainly on some rules I read through over at the vNFL Edge league and maybe a few others I've seen others use.

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House Rules

• Actual 2009 roster set
• Injuries = 100
• Salary Cap: 60-90
• For the 1st season only, I can renegotiate the contracts of three players with more than 5+ years experience
• RFAs may be renegotiated with at any time during their first four years in the league but those contracts cannot extend past their 6th season
• All other players not meeting the above criteria must be allowed to enter into free agency
• Our team will be allowed to bid on these free agents in the open market
• We can use the Franchise Tag
• During Free Agency stages 2-8, only multi-year contracts may be offered by our team. And only multi-year contracts during all of Late Free Agency. NO ONE YEAR DEALS.

[nickelback]

Not going to spend a lot of time doing a positional breakdown. The roster is horrible and there isn't much since in spending a lot of time talking about guys who will probably not be here next season.

Oakland Raiders Roster, Scout Overview
 
  Player                #   Pos   Start Exp  Current Estimate  Future Estimate Cntrct 
Russell, JaMarcus       2   QB    QB    3    19                41                4 yrs
Frye, Charlie           3   QB          5    13                24                2 yrs
##Gradkowski, Bruce     5   QB          4    11                21                2 yrs
Losman, J.P.            7   QB          3    21                29                1 yr.
McFadden, Darren        20  RB    RB    2    40                53                5 yrs
##Russell, Gary         22  RB          3    26                46                1 yr.
Fargas, Justin          25  RB          7    51                51                3 yrs
Bush, Michael           29  RB          2    28                40                2 yrs
##Lawton, Luke          44  FB          4    16                17                2 yrs
O'Neal, Oren            46  FB    FB    2    19                27                2 yrs
Miller, Zach            80  TE    TE    3    53                64                2 yrs
Myers, Brandon          83  TE          1    11                18                4 yrs
Stewart, Tony           86  TE          9    23                23                1 yr.
Murphy, Louis           18  FL    FL    1    36                61                4 yrs
##Watkins, Todd         19  FL          2    14                23                2 yrs
Walker, Javon           84  FL          8    39                39                5 yrs
Heyward-Bey, Darrius    12  SE          1    14                22                5 yrs
Higgins, Johnnie Lee    15  SE          3    22                34                2 yrs
##Holland, Jonathan     23  SE          2    13                31                2 yrs
Schilens, Chaz          81  SE    SE    2    31                57                3 yrs
##Miller, Nick          89  SE          1    8                 12                2 yrs
Condo, Jon              59  C           3    25                40                2 yrs
Satele, Samson          64  C     C     3    38                39                2 yrs
Wade, John              71  C           12   34                34                1 yr.
Morris, Chris           51  LG          4    25                53                1 yr.
Gallery, Robert         76  LG    LG    6    63                63                2 yrs
Carlisle, Cooper        66  RG          10   26                26                1 yr.
Maloney, Clay           67  RG    RG    1    18                47                1 yr.
Barnes, Khalif          69  LT          5    33                33                1 yr.
Walker, Langston        70  LT    LT    8    41                51                3 yrs
Henderson, Mario        75  LT          3    23                46                2 yrs
Pears, Erik             72  RT    RT    4    30                41                1 yr.
##Green, Cornell        74  RT          11   10                10                1 yr.
Lechler, Shane          9   P           10   72                72                4 yrs
Janikowski, Sebastian   11  K           10   70                70                1 yr.
Shaughnessy, Matt       77  LDE         1    40                60                4 yrs
Ellis, Greg             99  LDE   LDE   12   73                73                3 yrs
##Scott, Trevor         91  RDE         2    18                33                3 yrs
Seymour, Richard        92  RDE   RDE   9    64                64                1 yr.
Richardson, Jay         98  RDE         3    26                29                2 yrs
Bryant, Desmond         90  LDT         1    11                22                2 yrs
Kelly, Tommy            93  LDT   LDT   6    34                34                6 yrs
Warren, Gerard          61  RDT   RDT   9    40                40                2 yrs
Ekejiuba, Isaiah        50  MLB         5    16                28                1 yr.
Morrison, Kirk          52  MLB   MLB   5    72                72                1 yr.
##Redd, Marty           97  MLB         1    12                52                1 yr.
##Alston, Jon           55  SLB         4    17                26                1 yr.
##Brown, Ricky          57  SLB         4    19                30                1 yr.
Norris, Slade           58  SLB   SLB   1    14                30                4 yrs
Howard, Thomas          53  WLB   WLB   4    35                35                1 yr.
Williams, Sam           54  WLB         7    25                31                1 yr.
Asomugha, Nnamdi        21  LCB   LCB   7    80                80                3 yrs
##Bowie, John           35  LCB         3    12                31                2 yrs
##Woodson, Stoney       36  LCB         1    11                24                4 yrs
Routt, Stanford         26  RCB         5    30                30                1 yr.
Johnson, Chris          37  RCB   RCB   7    41                46                4 yrs
##Branch, Tyvon         33  SS          2    18                46                1 yr.
Mitchell, Mike          34  SS    SS    1    30                61                4 yrs
Huff, Michael           24  FS    FS    4    72                72                3 yrs
Eugene, Hiram           31  FS          4    30                36                1 yr.
 
$$ - player is suspended, ## - player is inactive,  
** = player is injured, %% - player is on IR.  
 
Players Under Contract: 60
Inactive: 14
On Active Roster: 46
 
Salary Cap: $128,000,000
Cap Room: $14,680,000
Maximum for New Player: $15,070,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $0
 
Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $0 
Front Office Football 2007
Cap Room Required Next Year: $99,080,000

[nickelback]

2009 Recap

2009 Summary for Oakland Raiders
 
Year                2009                                      
Record              5-11                                      
Winning Pct.        .312                                      
All-Time            5-11                                      
Winning Pct.        .312                                      
Playoffs            0-0                                       
Playoff Visits      0                                         
Bowl Wins           0                                         
Head Coach          Dexter Reynolds                           
Record              5-11                                      
Winning Pct.        .312                                      
Off. Coord.         R. Gargiulo                               
Def. Coord.         D. Wynn                                   
 
Oakland Raiders         Team      Rank  
Rushes per Game         30.3      9 (T)       
Rushing Yards           126.3     11          
Yards Per Carry         4.17      16 (T)      
Pass Attempts           30.9      20          
Completions             19.3      13 (T)      
Completion Pct.         62.2      11          
Passing Yards           182.4     23          
Yards Per Attempt       5.89      24 (T)      
Yards Per Catch         9.47      28          
Total Yardage Gained    297.3     18          
3rd Down Conversions    35.3      15          
Points Per Game         20.1      12          
Pass Rush Pct.          21.1      11 (T)      
Pass Defense Pct.       41.0      30          
Turnovers               25        15 (T)      
Turnover Margin         +9        6 (T)       
 
Opponents               Team      Rank  
Rushes per Game         27.9      15          
Rushing Yards           129.3     25          
Yards Per Carry         4.64      29          
Pass Attempts           28.5      3           
Completions             18.9      14          
Completion Pct.         66.2      30          
Passing Yards           222.3     25          
Yards Per Attempt       7.80      31          
Yards Per Catch         11.77     31          
Total Yardage Gained    339.4     26          
3rd Down Conversions    38.1      26          
Points Per Game         23.9      28          
Pass Rush Pct.          21.3      21          
Pass Defense Pct.       45.2      9           
Turnovers               34        3 (T)       
 
Week  Team  Versus        Oppnt  
1     30    SDO           35      
2     17    at KCY        24      
3     7     DEN           13      
4     0     at HOU        9       
5     7     at NYK        17      
6     17    PHI           25      
7     16    NJY           13      
8     13    at SDO        37      
10    28    KCY           10      
11    31    CIN           24      
12    13    at DAL        23      
13    38    at PIT        35      
14    20    WAS           21      
15    17    at DEN        49      
16    44    at CLE        21      
17    24    BAL           27      
 
Passing                 Pos   Att   Comp  Yards Y/Att TD    Int   Rate  
7 J. Losman             QB    405   254   2388  5.90  11    9     78.7    
2 J. Russell            QB    90    54    530   5.89  6     3     84.9    
**Team                  ---   495   308   2918  5.89  17    12    79.8    
$$Opp                   ---   456   302   3556  7.80  21    13    93.2    
 
Rushing                 Pos   Att   Yards Y/Att TD    Fum  
25 J. Fargas            RB    292   1118  3.83  10    5       
Front Office Football 2007
20 D. McFadden          RB    150   713   4.75  4     6       
**Team                  ---   484   2020  4.17  15    22      
$$Opp                   ---   446   2068  4.64  21    34      
 
Receiving               Pos   Targ  Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop  TD  
81 C. Schilens          WR    120   67    747   11.15 6.23  5     3       
25 J. Fargas            RB    83    66    498   7.55  6.00  3     1       
18 L. Murphy            WR    60    35    325   9.29  5.42  1     3       
84 J. Walker            WR    61    27    327   12.11 5.36  5     3       
80 Z. Miller            TE    44    27    260   9.63  5.91  2     0       
15 J. Higgins           WR    39    26    226   8.69  5.79  2     5       
20 D. McFadden          RB    28    20    141   7.05  5.04  1     0       
 
Defense                 Pos   Tack  Asst  Sack  Hurr  Ints  Defn  PDPct  
52 K. Morrison          ILB   97    32    2.0   3     0     2     71.2    
24 M. Huff              S     61    18    0.0   0     1     2     75.6    
34 M. Mitchell          S     55    23    0.0   0     0     3     75.6    
92 R. Seymour           DE    48    18    8.5   14    0     0     80.8    
31 H. Eugene            S     46    16    0.0   0     2     9     83.0    
58 S. Norris            OLB   41    14    0.5   1     2     1     73.6    
26 S. Routt             CB    39    2     0.0   0     1     3     71.5    
53 T. Howard            OLB   39    11    0.0   1     2     3     80.0    
37 C. Johnson           CB    38    10    0.0   0     1     2     77.5    
99 G. Ellis             DE    37    9     8.0   15    0     0     81.2    
36 S. Woodson           CB    31    8     0.0   0     1     6     77.4    
93 T. Kelly             DT    27    17    2.5   4     0     0     80.3    
61 G. Warren            DT    24    10    4.0   5     0     0     80.4    
33 T. Branch            S     21    11    0.5   0     2     2     80.1    
94 C. Mulinaro          DT    19    5     2.5   5     0     0     78.6    
50 I. Ekejiuba          ILB   18    10    0.0   2     0     3     80.8    
54 S. Williams          OLB   16    7     0.0   0     0     0     73.1

So in an effort to get to the first phases of starting to put a respectable team together, I turn complete control over to the computer for season one and sim through the entire season. We did manage to renegotiate our three contracts with players of 5+ years experience and renegotiate the contracts of three restricted players.

K Sebastian Janikowski - 4 yrs., $8.24 million
DE Richard Seymour - 3 yrs., $14.65 million
LB Kirk Morrison - 4 yrs., $26.21 million
RB Gary Russell - 2 yrs., $1.05 million
G Chris Morris - 3 yrs., $2.08 millon
S Tyvon Branch - 2 yrs., $900,000

Now on to the fun part.....

[nickelback]

Retirements:

DE Greg Ellis (37 tackles, 8 sacks, 5 blocks, 15 hurries, 12 knockdowns)

Right away we are hit with our first bit of bad news this offseason. Greg Ellis decides to hang them up and takes with him some solid production. Ellis missed the last four games of the season with a very serious MCL knee injury, which lead to his decision to retire. His departure leaves us a a little thin at defensive end but gives 2nd year DE Matt Shaughnessy an excellent opportunity to claim the starting job alongside mentor Richard Seymour.

[nickelback]

Staff Hiring:

Wasn't particularly happy with the staff we had in place. After scouring the available coaches and scouts, we decide only one current staff member would be retaining. We make offers to a new lead scout, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator. We will stick with our current head coach for at least one more season. All offers are accepted and the new staff is introduced.

Dexter Reynolds
Head Coach
Motivation: Very Good
Discipline: Very Good
Offensive Playcalling: Average
Defensive Playcalling: Excellent
Injury Avoidance: Good

Cary Caldwell
Offensive Coordinator
Quarterbacks: Average
Running Backs: Excellent
Receivers: Fair
Offensive Linemen: Excellent
Kickers: Good
Young Talent: Average

Percy Ferguson
Defensive Coordinator
Defensive Linemen: Average
Linebackers: Excellent
Secondary: Good
Punters: Average
Young Talent: Good

Skip Terrell
Head Scout
Quarterbacks: Good
Running Backs: Good
Receivers: Fair
Offensive Linemen: Very Good
Kickers: Very Good
Defensive Linemen: Average
Linebackers: Average
Secondary: Good
Young Talent: Good

[nickelback]

Franchise Tag: None

Summer League: WR Darrius Heyward-Bey (14/22)

[nickelback]

Early Free Agency:

The first thing that needs done before we head into the start of free agency, is that we need to free up some caproom by releasing the trash on the roster that is either making too much money or don't fit into our plans. The following players were released:

QB Charlie Frye
QB JaMarcus Russell
FB Oren O'Neal
WR Jonathan Holland
DE Jay Richardson
DE Trevor Scott
DT Desmond Bryant
DT Tommy Kelly
DT Gerard Warren
LB Slade Norris
CB Stoney Woodson

After all those moves are made, we now have a little over $43 million in caproom but only 26 players currently under contract. Our priority during free agency isn't to target high priced free agents. Just because we have the cap space, doesn't mean we intend to use it all. Our philosophy is going to be to go after quality talent that isn't seeking crazy contracts. We will not offer contracts to any of our RFAs.

Positions of Need:

QBx3, FBx2, TEx2, Gx2, Tx2, DEx2, DTx2, ILBx3, OLBx2, CBx2, Sx1


Week 2 Signings:

QB Kyle Orton (45/46) - 3 years, $29.33 mil. (Denver Broncos)
- Not many options on the market at QB. Big Ben, Eli and Aaron Rodgers were all franchised by their teams. Orton was the best still available and might need to be the guy for a few years until a better option comes along.

WR Domenik Hixon (41/52) - 3 years, $5.34 mil. (New York Giants)
- Gifted young WR with outstanding big-play ability. Should be no less than our #3 WR.

TE Justin Peelle (45/45) - 2 years, $1.90 mil. (Atlanta Falcons)
- Run blocker in certain situations and our #3 TE

TE Ben Utecht (48/48) - 3 years, $3.21 mil. (Cincinnati Bengals)
- Solid all-around TE with good getting downfield and big-play but lacks the endurance to be on the field full-time. Will backup Zach Miller.

OG Jeremy Bridges (48/60) - 3 years, $5.60 mil. (Arizona Cardinals)
- The first piece of a revamped offensive line. Not the greatest run blocker but a very good pass blocker. Entering his 7th season but still has room to develop, so perhaps his run blocking will improve.

OT Winston Justice (38/63) - 3 years, $3.93 mil. (Philadelphia Eagles)
- Great potential but has never received the playing time try to live up to that potential.

OT Ryan Cook (48/56) - 3 years, $5.64 mil. (Minnesota Vikings)
- Not much blocking strength or endurance but a suitable guy to play RT. Along with Justice and Bridges, should form a very good offensive line for the next few years.

NT Gabe Watson - (44/52) - 3 years, $2.91 mil. (Arizona Cardinals)
- A big, big frame to man the middle in our 3-4 defense. Right now his run defense is only 38/43 but has signs of potentially being better down the road.

ILB Larry Foote (54/54) - 2 years, $3.07 mil. (Detroit Lions)
- Not really into signing older players but Foote has outstanding run blocking, endurance and can pop a ball carrier. Will start at WILB.

FB Justin Griffith (40/40) - 2 years, $1.90 mil. (Seattle Seahawks)
- Usually like to have my fullback with run blocking higher than what Griffith offers but does so many other things well, that I'm willing to overlook that one shortcoming.

CB Jabari Greer (61/61) - 3 years, $2.97 mil. (New Orleans Saints)
- Greer was a guy that I fully expected to get a big payday, despite his low contract demands. We land him cheap and will compete with Chris Johnson for the RCB job.

FS Josh Bullocks (51/51) - 3 years, $2.97 mil. (Chicago Bears)
- Bullocks was brought in because of his solid zone coverage and ball-hawking abilities. Also a standout on special teams. Will be backup to Mike Mitchell and possibly our dimeback.