Oakland Raiders still hard at work

Thoughts from the Dark Side

April 28, 2008

24 Comments

By Rob Calonge

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Image details: Arizona State v UCLA served by picapp.com

The Raiders add depth to the offensive line from the Pac-10.

The Oakland Raiders continue to add to their draft by signing rookie free agents around the clock. The latest two free agents signed are different from most of the recent signings in more than one way. The first way that they're different is that they are both from the offensive side of the ball. The second way they're different is that they are both from powerhouse Div I schools.

The Raiders signed Brandon Rodd, OG, Arizona State, and Matt Hahn, FB, Penn State. Alright, maybe powerhouse is a little overstated for their respective schools, but they're no Western Washington University. Either way, both players will come in and compete for a chance to stay a Raider during the 2008 season.

Brandon Rodd measures in at 6'3", 300 lbs, and runs the 40 in 5.2. He's smart too. Rodd was given Pac-10 All Academic honors all four years and a two time Second Team Pac-10 All Acedemic Football player (try saying that fast four times). He was also on the 2007 preseason Lombardi award watch list.

Image details: Oregon Ducks v Arizona State Sun Devils served by picapp.com

If for nothing else, Rodd could be a prop for McFadden when he breaks one.

Rodd tore his ACL in his redshirt freshman year, but came back to play primarily at the left tackle position. In 2007, he started all 13 games at left tackle for the Sun Devils. He projects as an offensive guard in the NFL, due to a lack of explosiveness at the line and a lack of physicality (sounds like a finesse zone blocker). He is a versatile lineman that will fight for a spot on the depth chart at four positions.

Image details: Penn State Nittany Lions v Michigan Wolverines served by picapp.com

Hahn will battle for a special teams job.

Matt Hahn is beloved by Penn State faithful fans.�� He is a hard-nosed, blue collar, team first player.�� A highly recruited halfback out of high school, he was converted to fullback.�� He never complained and rarely carried the ball.�� While at Penn State, he carried the ball 30 times in four years and had 27 catches.

Hahn measures in at 6'0, 236 lbs and is coming off of a knee injury suffered in the middle of his Senior year.�� Thought to be more of an H-back, he can play fullback or tight end.�� He looks at blocking the same as scoring touchdowns, and is selfless for the good of the team.�� The knee injury was serious, though I couldn't find which ligament(s) were torn.

Added note of interest, while perusing the Penn State athletic site looking for more information about Hahn's knee injury, I found a Stefen Wisniewski.�� Seems his dad, Leo and his uncle Steve (yes, our Steve) both attended Penn State as well.�� His nickname is 'The Wiz' and he was an Army All American before signing to play with Penn State.�� If you think you'll have a hard time watching Chris Long, wait until 'The Wiz' II comes out in the draft.�� He plays guard.�� Is it a coincidence the Raiders signed Hahn, a FB coming off of a serious knee injury with little or no stats?�� Hmmm, if this kid works out I guess we have an idea who to thank.

Tags: NFL, Oakland Raiders, Raiders

Discussion

24 Comments on "Oakland Raiders still hard at work"

Posted by Thoughts from the Dark Side: Oakland Raiders still hard at work | The RaiderCast, April 28, 2008 10:39 PM

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Posted by q. grant, April 28, 2008 11:01 PM

All u cb complainers, there's your OG.

Posted by LDizzle, April 28, 2008 11:27 PM

Yes here is our OG. Not in the draft and not among the first FA signings but none the less here he is. He is smart too which seems to be the kind of Olineman Al likes because a few years ago when we drafted a lot of Olineman in the draft a couple of them were Ivy Leaguers. No need for him to be great right now anyway. This team is set at the Guard spots. It is Tackle that is a little shaky and uncertain.

We don't really have a great need for a FB with Griffith and Oneal already holding it down but this guy seems like a "Rudy" type of guy who will bust his ass and play hard wherever he is put. I don't think he is big enough to be a TE though and hasn't really seen a lot of passes either. The Raiders picked another guy like this a few years ago out of Oregon by the name of David Moretti who played LB. They cut him before the season. Nice story but he may be destined for the practice squad.

Posted by Raider Blues, April 29, 2008 12:18 AM

Obvously Practice Squad!

Posted by Riverside Raiders Fan, April 29, 2008 12:29 AM

When you first look at our draft, you have mixed feelings. We got the number one player of the whole draft class (no argument there) in Dma, and when you really look at the other picks (separate them from need) and we have some great potential and lots of speed (AD written all over our draft). So who is to say? We'll have to wait and see who are the final 53 and how they performed in pre-season...did they contribute? Overall, I thought we needed more picks at need, but what would I or the average Joe know. We're not the professionals and we don't really understand the type of players the Raiders need for their system. I do believe, however, that may of us are fearing injuries to key players, as we don't have much depth on D-Line or O-Line. Barring any major injuries, second year in our system and second year

head coach, etc., and with a weaker schedule...the Sky is the limit. JR has to live up to expectations, Dma has to add a new demension with his abilities and we have to win our first game against the donkeys on national, Monday night football. Go Raiders.

Posted by RaiderDon73, April 29, 2008 7:13 AM

I have been a Raiders fan for over 45 years, and I personally think this draft was one of the worst for the Raiders. I think they got one player that is going to contribute this year and even the following year. Why didn't someone tell Al Davis to get himself so lineman? That is what the Raiders need to open the holes required for DMAC to run thru. He will be no weapon at all if we cannot open the holes for him. I hope it works out, but whooooooo knows. Go Raiders.

Posted by ken from Modesto Cali, April 29, 2008 8:03 AM

Mario Henderson, the new center from the Bucks, 3 yr exp now guys in McQuistain, and another guy i cannot remember name... i think the O Line gonna be ok - not great. Still early and players still coming. This draft was a little odd with all of the small school picks, but theay appear to be drafting athletes...

Posted by Twocents, April 29, 2008 9:40 AM

I keep hearing that we're loaded at cornerback. I like Routt, so that's three.

Safety, I count two and I'm not sure about them.

Linebacker, maybe three, if Williams can stay healthy.

Defensive line, an injury or two away from complete disaster.

I like Rob Ryan, his optimism gets me fired up. I just hope he's right this time.

Posted by H, April 29, 2008 10:05 AM

One of the reasons we were so active in free agency is the lack of draft choices this season. As he is only 24, we should consider DeAngelo Hall our second round draft choice.

Kiffin said "We will attack free agency," and he was right. Most of the late rounders and undrafted free agents that make the team will be special teamers.

All in all, a lot of reasons to be optomistic.

#10

Posted by RaiderKC, April 29, 2008 10:46 AM

Maurice Purify is down the road in Eureka, CA. He is a tall, fast WR from NU. Need to sign more WR, OL, DL for competition this summer.

#11

Posted by RaiderKC, April 29, 2008 10:49 AM

Russell would love throwing to a big target like Maurice Purify (WR-NU). He's waiting for Kiffin to call him down in Eureka, CA....

#12

Posted by Raider Blues, April 29, 2008 11:40 AM

DMac in the first. Hall in the second.

Not too bad!

Raider Fan X 32years one of the best I've seen!

Just Win Baby!

#13

Posted by Joe, April 29, 2008 2:06 PM

offensive lineman and defensive lineman, draft choices.......where are they? Harris and Gallery starting on the left side. That's a great tandem should work great in pass blocking...Jamarcus, watch your left side, because, here they come...I also understand that Dorsey will be playing across from Gallery when KC comes to town...This could get real ugly...

#14

Posted by azraider37, April 29, 2008 2:07 PM

RaiderDon, Are you saying there were no holes to run through last year? You may want to look again. I like Fargas but he isn't Barry Sanders, there were plenty of holes. Another year under Cable we will be even better.

#15

Posted by Twocents, April 29, 2008 2:27 PM

I still have hope that Cable will improve our OL.

Actually, I have faith in the entire staff. It's just that they're saddled with a meddling owner who is building a track team and has forgotten that it's called "tackle" football.

Or, as one eloquent post said, "The Raiders are screwed until Crazy Alice takes a dirt nap."

#16

Posted by bfowler, April 29, 2008 2:29 PM

hey don 73 u have been a raider fan for 45 years ? well did u miss last year cause we had the number 6 rushing attack in the league witha suspect o line and core of unflashy runningbacks dmac will make this years oline even better u just wait and see.

#17

Posted by RaiderKC, April 29, 2008 3:36 PM

bfowler-I hope we are better and some of the youngsters get a chance to show they were worth drafting. Don't forget yes a #6 rushing offense, but on a last place schedule that's why I'm happy to get a potentially great RB in McFadden.

#18

Posted by RastaRaider, April 29, 2008 7:43 PM

I chimed in for DMAC before the draft and am stoked!!! People wanna bitch out our O line, but we were 6th in the league in rushing. Now we have a beast of a QB, so the linebackers will have to stay back, giving the O line even more room to operate and with DMAC, the Raiders are back!!!

#19

Posted by inonewordraider, April 29, 2008 7:53 PM

I've been trying to convince myself Al made the right decision. I think teams would be more worried to face our team w/ Keith Rivers. He wasn't even the best linebacker on his college team and definately not a superstar but along side Morrison and Howard, forget Dline these guys would eat up running backs. Teams would have feared us more w/ Derrick Harvey as well. Harvey wouldn't be a double digit sack guy but he is a De that can stop the run, helping out Kelly, Sands and Burgess. We still would have thunder and lightning on offense w/ Bush and Fargas. And oh yeah by the way we would have had a second round pick as well.

#20

Posted by pat T, April 29, 2008 9:04 PM

Napoleon Harris wasnt a bust, but in he's not what we needed at our MLB we needed a speedy guy with a killer instinct and now we have that in Kirk Morrison and Thomas Howard. I also have to disagree with who ever says Robert Gallery's a bust, if anything he's a warrior. How many different coaches has he had, different systems and positions every year. For the first time in a long time for Gallery he's playing i the same position, where he had alot of sucess last season and he's still in the same zone-blocking system. I mean give the man some credit he's stuck with he could've easily done what other players and more specifically other O-line men have done and asked for a trade or to be released, like Levi Jones asked the Bengals this weekend. So in my opinion Gallery's not a bust, he's not the most talented but he never complains and thats something Lane Kiffin and Greg Knapp have said its not something im making up. I understand LDizzle and other people would've preffered Larry Fitzgerald or Roy Williams but maybe these guys wouldnt have worked out with us, hell if we would've gotten one of them then they might be called busts by the media because i dont think they would've of had much if any sucess with the QB's we've had lately(after Rich Gannon and before JaMarcus Russell). But, then again thats just my two cents. Me personally i prefer looking at the future, it looks alot and when i say alot i mean alot brighter than our past withJ. Russell, Dmac, and Fargas leading our offenese. Also Kirk Morrison, Derrick Burgess, Thomas Howard, Nmandi Asomughua, and now our newest leaders in DeAngelo Hall and my personal favorite and most underrated pick up by any team this offseason Gibril Wilson.

GO RAIDERS!!!

#21

Posted by FireMike, April 29, 2008 10:07 PM

This draft and offseason pickups will be special and make other teams stay up at late, trying to stop us. Dmac was the best choice for many reasons. He will open lanes for our WR ,TE, and be a big factor in 3rd downs and RED zone. Look what he did to LSU in triple OT with GDorsey playing defense.

Enough Said.

#22

Posted by antdogg, April 29, 2008 11:06 PM

this lineman is bull arizona state led the whole ncaa in sacks allowed besides the center mike pollack there line sucks

#23

Posted by AirForceRaider, April 30, 2008 12:55 AM

Have patience folks! Atleast we are heading in the right direction. We have a lot more tlaent then prevoius years. Remember we could have won more games last year if we had gotten some breaks fall our way and that was with a less talented group. The way I look at it the Chargers have Norv Turner coaching them and KC has Herm. They are both losing coaches from their past teams so I got a feeling they are on their way down. Denvers' Shanahan seams to be losing his touch too so we are looking good in the AFC West. Go Raiders!!!!!

#24

Posted by Raider1, April 30, 2008 9:09 PM

Damn, its true what they say, Most Raider fans are stupid, its a good thing none of you are in the front office.