John Bowie might be known as the player the Raiders got for Randy Moss but he will be remembered for more than that if he can just stay healthy.  Bowie is a little small at 5′11″, 188 pounds but he is super fast as he runs a 4.37 40.  He’s a little raw because he only started one season (as a senior) and he’s had injury problems early in his career.  Bowie is fearless against the run despite his size and he can run with any WR in the NFL.  Bowie played in 33 games (12 starts) at Cincinnati and he made 56 tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss, recovered a fumble, broke up 4 passes and had 2 interceptions that he returned 49 yards (1 for a TD).  Look for Bowie to be used in nickel and dime packages as a rookie and on special teams.  He will be a starter in the future if he can just stay healthy.

The Raiders like taking chances in the draft and the selection of Michael Bush was definately a gamble.  He only played in one game last season before missing the rest of the season due to injury.  But, before he got hurt he carried the football 17 times for 128 yards (7.5 ypc) with 3 TD runs.  Bush has good size as he’s 6′1″, 251 pounds and he can run a 4.6 40 when healthy.  Bush is a power runner in the Jerome Bettis mold and he will push Lamont Jordan and Dominic Rhodes for carries if he is healthy.  Bush played in 36 games (16 starts) at Louisville and he carried the football 435 times for 2,508 yards (5.8 ypc) with 39 TD runs.  He also caught 50 passes for 651 yards (13.0 avg) with 2 TD runs.  If Michael Bush is healthy he will be a impact player for the Raiders and possibly the steal of the draft.

The Raiders got themselves a good football player with the last pick of the first day of the NFL Draft.  Not many men can run a 4.34 40 like Higgins can but he’s a tad small at 5′11″, 183 pounds.  He has had some back problems in the past which isn’t a surprise because he’s so little.  Higgins has gotten much better in each season at UTEP so he might have saved his best for the NFL.  Higgins played in 49 games (32 starts) at UTEP and he caught 190 passes for 3,218 yards (16.9 avg) with 32 TD grabs.  He also returned 2 punts for TDs as a senior.  Look for the Raiders to use Higgins in their multiple WR sets to use his speed and they also will likely give him a chance to play on special teams.  Higgins will be a good weapon for JaMarcus Russell to throw to in the future for the Raiders.

The Raiders have signed strong safety Colin Branch to a 1-year contract.  Colin Branch played in all 16 games last season for the Panthers and he made 19 tackles and picked off 1 pass.  Branch will likely just back up at safety and play on some special teams for the Raiders.  Over his 4-year career, Branch has played in 48 games and he’s made 67 tackles, has 4 interceptions and he’s defended 5 passes.

The Oakland Raiders will be without quarterback Andrew Walter for the next 4-6 weeks after he needed arthroscopic surgery earlier in the week.  This comes at a bad time for Walter as he was competing for the starting job with JaMarcus Russell and Josh McCown.  Based on his play of last season it would have been hard for him to win the starting job though.  In 12 games (8 starts) he completed 147 of 276 (53.3%) passes for 1,677 yards with 3 TD passes and 13 interceptions (55.8 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 14 times for 30 yards (2.1 ypc).  It’s hard to throw the ball when you get sacked 46 times in a season….it gets you a little bit nervous, so it was a little hard to judge him based solely on last year’s stats.