The Raiders need to put the stopwatches away and start drafting football players.  Who cares if a guy can run a 4.2 40 if he can’t catch the ball or make a tackle?  In the first round (#7 overall) the Raiders took WR Darrius Heyward-Bey out of Maryland.  He was the fastest player timed in the 40 in the entire draft.  Too bad he can’t catch a pass.  Heyward-Bey played in 11 games for the Raiders last season and he caught 9 passes for 124 yards (13.8 avg) with 1 TD grab and he also carried the ball 2 times for 19 yards (9.5 ypc).  In the second round (#47 overall) the Raiders selected another speedster in safety Michael Mitchell out of Ohio.  Draft experts considered him to be a huge reach for the Raiders.  He played in all 16 games for the Raiders last season and he finished up with 16 tackles and 1.5 sacks.  DE Matt Shaughnessy (4th round, #124 overall) out of Wisconsin was a good pick for the Raiders as he has a nice upside.  He played in all 16 games for the Raiders last season and he finished up with 29 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss and 4 sacks.  WR Louis Murphy (4th round, #124 overall) out of Florida is another speed demon but he can actually catch the ball.  He played in 16 games for the Raiders last season and he caught 34 passes for 521 yards (15.3 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  He also carried the ball 6 times for 31 yards (5.2 ypc) and he made 3 tackles.  Murphy is the guy that caught the biggest pass of the year for the Raiders late in the 4th quarter at Pittsburgh that gave the team a huge road win.  DE Slade Norris (4th round, #126 overall) out of Oregon State played in 4 games for the Raiders last season and he made 2 tackles.  DE Stryker Sulak (6th round, #199 overall) out of Missouri was cut before the season started.  TE Brandon Myers (6th round, #202 overall) out of Iowa played in 11 games for the Raiders as a rookie catching 4 passes for 19 yards (4.8 avg).  He also had 6 tackles and forced a fumble for the Raiders as a rookie.

GRADE FOR 2009:  C-

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  C

The Raiders have placed 22-year old OLB Slade Norris and 22-year old KR Nick Miller on I.R.  Norris was the Raiders’ 4th round pick out of Oregon State last April in the draft.  He played in 4 games  and made a whopping 2 tackles this year.  Miller was injured in the pre-season but the Raiders didn’t know that he had a fractured tibia.

The Oakland Raiders love the stopwatch and it often clouds the teams’ judgment on draft day.  WR Darrius Heyward-Bey was the fastest player timed of all the WRs in the NFL Draft.  That was enough for the Raiders to pick him at #7 in the first round.  Heyward-Bey has caught 5 passes for 74 yards (14.8 avg) and he has carried the ball 2 times for 19 yards (9.5 ypc) so far this season.  It’s hard to judge him yet due to the poor QB play of the Raiders so far this season.  Safety Michael Mitchell (2nd round, #47 overall) also was timed up and thought to be a speed burner.  Too bad that speed doesn’t always convert into production as Mitchell has 7 whole tackles this season.  DE Matt Shaughnessy (3rd round, #71 overall) has not done much this season as he has 10 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 sack.  But due to injuries his playing time is going to pick up starting next week so we will get to see what he can really do.  WR Louis Murphy (4th round, #124 overall) has been one of the better playmakers on the offense and he is pretty darn fast.  He has caught 16 passes for 232 yards (14.5 avg) with 1 TD grab and he has also carried the ball 2 times for 5 yards (2.5 ypc).  Murphy also has 1 tackle so far this year.  TE Brandon Myers (6th round, #202 overall) has caught 2 passes for 7 yards (3.5 avg) so far this season.  DEs Slade Norris (4th round, #126 overall) and Stryker Sulak (6th round, #199 overall) have not played for the Raiders this season.  It will be pretty hard to judge this draft class until the Raiders get decent QB play but it doesn’t look too good right now.

When the Raiders selected the super fast WR Darrius Heyward-Bey with the 7th pick of the first round of last April’s NFL Draft they were expecting him to contribute this season and start down the road.  But to this point he has shown no signs of being a good WR any time soon.  Some of that blame has to go to JaMarcus Russell but Heyward-Bey’s hands are like a pair of bricks.  He has caught 4 passes for 64 yards (16.0 avg) and he has carried the ball 2 times for 19 yards (9.5 ypc) this season.  The amazing thing about Heyward-Bey’s numbers is that he is third on the Raiders in receiving yards this season which is incredible as it says quite a bit about the offense.

Rookie 4th round pick Louis Murphy out of Florida is off to a great start for the Raiders.  Murphy caught 4 passes for 87 yards (21.8 avg) with a TD grab against the Chargers on Monday Night.  He should have had over 100 yards and 2 TDs but the refs made a bad call in the end zone.  The sky is the limit for Murphy as he has great deep speed which fits into the Raiders’ age old philosophy of running the ball and throwing deep.