Oakland Raiders to ever regain continuity?

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Since their devasting loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII, the Oakland Raiders have been a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Over the past nine years the team has had five different head coaches, interim or otherwise, and has been a franchise that has shown little in the way of stability.

The Raiders last three first round draft picks have been more style than substance and then they traded away their 2011 first round selection for DE Richard Seymour, who while a solid citizen and consistent Pro Bowl level performer, is still a nine year veteran in the final year of his contract. As the Raiders are clearly more than a defense end from being an elite defense, let alone an elite team, the move was puzzling.

2009 Team Record: 5-11
First Round Pick: 8th Overall

2009 Active Roster Batting Average (NFL Average): 47.17% (44.69%)
2009 Draft Pick Retention: 71.42%*
Undrafted Players on 2009 Active Roster (NFL Average): 26.42% (27.89%)

Unrestricted: 5
Restricted: 12
Notable: Sebastian Janikowski, PK (UFA); Bruce Gradkowski, QB (RFA); Richard Seymour, DE (UFA)

2009 – Darrius Heyward-Bey, WR, Maryland (7th Overall)
2008 – Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas (4th Overall)
2007 – JaMarcus Russell, QB, LSU (1st Overall)
2006 – Michael Huff, SS, Texas (7th Overall)
2005 – Fabian Washington, CB, Nebraska (23rd Overall)

We did not calculate a DNQBR for the 2009 season as no Oakland Raiders quarterback started 13 or more games.^

• Five of the Oakland Raiders seven 2009 draft picks made the team’s active roster
• LB Slade Norris (4th round) finished the season on the injured reserve list
• The Raiders tagged DE Richard Seymour who they obtained in a trade with the New England Patriots in exchange for their 2011 first round draft pick
• 2005 first round pick CD Fabian Washington was dealt to the Ravens for a fourth round pick in the 2008 draft
• The 2010 draft will mark the fifth consecutive year that the Oakland Raiders have had a selection in the Top 10 of the draft

* we have not performed a complete analysis of teams’ 2009 draft selections versus their 2009 active rosters in order to calculate an NFL league average.

^ we will detail the breakdown of the DNQBR in a future post, however, the figure represents the approximate number of points per game that the team’s quarterback contributes. As a point of reference Saints QB Drew Brees lead the league with a DNQBR of 26.3, while Jets QB Mark Sanchez possessed the lowest at .7

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