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The Raiders have placed 25-year old WR/KR Jonathan Holland on the Injured Reserve List ending his season with a ankle injury. He didn’t catch any passes in his first two years in the NFL. In 17 games (0 starts) in his two years with the Raiders he has returned 28 kickoffs for 550 yards (19.6 avg). This is not much of a loss for the Raiders as they weren’t counting on Holland in 2010.
The Raiders have signed QB Colt Brennan. I’m really interested to find out what the thinking was here in bringing Brennan in. The Raiders already have Jason Campbell, Bruce Gradkowski, Kyle Boller and Charlie Frye at QB for the 2010 season. You would think that Brennan’s agent would have been looking for a team with less depth at QB to give him a legitimate chance to get his career going. Brennan will be a longshot to make the Raiders’ opening day roster.
The Raiders have signed 31-year old DT John Henderson to a 1-year deal. The 6′7″, 335 pound Henderson played in 15 games for the Jaguars last season and he had 36 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 3 sacks, he forced 2 fumbles and he defensed 3 passes. Henderson has now played in 124 games in his 8 years in the NFL and he has made 423 tackles, defensed 38 passes, forced 8 fumbles and he has 29 sacks. This was a excellent move for the Raiders as Henderson is a pretty good defensive tackle who should help them improve the run defense.
The Raiders have released 24-year old QB JaMarcus Russell. Russell played in 12 games for the Raiders last season in which he completed 120 of 246 passes (48.8%) for 1,287 yards with 3 TD passes and 11 INTs (50.0 QB Rating). He also carried the ball 18 times for 44 yards (2.4 ypc) last season. In his three years with the Raiders, Russell played in 31 games in which he completed 354 of 680 passes (52.1%) for 4,083 yards with 18 TD passes and 23 INTs (65.2 QB Rating). He also carried the ball 40 times for 175 yards (4.4 ypc) with 1 TD run with the Raiders. Russell was one of the worst QBs ever for the Raiders and they are a much better team today knowing that he won’t be getting any snaps for them this year. But, he was still better than Ryan Leaf and Akili Smith.
The Raiders have signed 30-year old TE John Owens and 29-year old CB Joey Thomas. Owens played in all 16 games for the Seahawks last season and he caught 3 passes for 16 yards (5.3 avg). He has played in 67 games in his NFL career in which he has caught 22 passes for 178 yards (8.1 avg) with 1 TD grab. Owens is a good run blocker so he should help the Raiders in 2010. Thomas did not play in the NFL last season. He last appeared in the NFL in 2008 with the Dolphins. Thomas has played in 31 games in his NFL career in which he has made 38 tackles, he defensed 4 passes and he forced 1 fumble. Thomas will probably have to make the Raiders based on his special teams play.
