Raiders looking for DT help

[Aeyjay]

Raiders could look at familar vets

July 4, 2008 12:10 PM

   
 Adams  Jackson
Posted by ESPN.com's Bill Williamson

The word around the league is that the Raiders are looking for some veteran depth at defensive tackle. If so, Oakland may consider going back to a familiar name. Tommy Kelly is expected to return from a torn ACL injury but he will have to work himself back into playing shape during training camp.

There are two veterans out there that Oakland knows plenty about: Sam Adams and Grady Jackson. Jackson played his first five NFL seasons, from 1997-2001, with Oakland. Adams played in Oakland in 2002 and was a big part of the Raiders' Super Bowl team.

Both players are free agents and both have an interest in playing. If Oakland feels like it needs to sign a veteran at the position, Adams or Jackson may be players it turns to.

Sort of blows holes in the Kelly/Sands era, but could be cover for injuries and/or big run stopping bodies for 1st and 2nd down. Sands was out od shape at the mini camps despite Kiffin saying he is improving.

In the end if we can afford it the more DT's the better so we keep everyone fresh.


 
 

[R8RMR]

I think Kelly will be ready but Sands definitely needs to step up. Depth at this position is essential but we definitely need quality as well. The money could be an issue at this stage.

[R8RMR]

This sort of goes along with what was intimated.

Interior investments crucial in stopping the run
By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 8:56 am in Oakland Raiders.

Third in a series of concerns regarding the makeup of the 2008 Raiders with the reporting date approaching on July 24 at the Napa Marriott:

During a practice during the Raiders’ mandatory minicamp, Terdell Sands could be found with one arm propped up against the hydraulic lift, gasping for breath during a team session.

The temperature was in the 70s _ a beautiful Alameda day _ and players are not allowed to wear full gear or engage in scrimmage-style contact.

Tommy Kelly, meanwhile, was hanging out with his defensive line mates, watching them go through drills as he continues to rehab the torn ACL which halted his season after seven weeks last season.

Since it was only June, it was no cause for major alarm, but it’s fair to question whether the Raiders’ attempts to stop the run in 2007 have a solid foundation.

The Raiders made big investments in both men to make sure they didn’t reach free agency. Sands, after a promising 2006 season, got a four-year contract and a $4 million signing bonus even though he wasn’t a fulltime player.

Kelly’s deal _ with $18.125 in guaranteed money _ caused jaws to drop around the league, in part because he has not yet proven he is an elite player and because of the ACL tear.

His contract was comparable to the extension Tommie Harris signed with the Chicago Bears. Harris was coming off an eight-sack season and a trip to the Pro Bowl. Kelly had one sack before going down with an ACL tear.

The Raiders are convinced Kelly’s move from end to the three-technique spot vacated by Warren Sapp will make him a premiere defender. Coach Lane Kiffin contends moving Kelly to various positions across the line hasn’t enabled him to settle in and become a dominant player.

Kelly will be watched very closely and be compared on a weekly basis with Glenn Dorsey of the Chiefs, for one of the reasons the Raiders passed on Dorsey was their commitment to Kelly.

On the surface, assuming Kelly’s knee rehab is going as planned, he would seem to be an upgrade over Sapp with regard to the Raiders’ biggest defensive weakness.

You’re probably as tired of reading the numbers as I am writing them, but the inability of the Raiders to stop the run was their biggest problem last season. Only Miami gave up more yards per game than Oakland’s average of 145.9. No one had a worse average per carry than their 4.8.

Oakland gave up 100 yards rushing to 10 different running backs, and while defensive coordinator Rob Ryan would like to think the stats were skewed by big runs, the fact is the Raiders were gouged on steady 4- to 5-yard gains as well.

Sapp was of little help against the run, doing as he has always done _ shooting the gap and attempting to destroy blocking schemes, even at the expense of a runner going past him. It’s the same thing that made him a probable Hall of Fame player in Tampa, where Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin devised a scheme which allowed him to do what he did best.

The Bucs were able to protect him with linebackers that fit into gaps and a hard-hitting safety named John Lynch. Raiders linebackers Kirk Morrison and Thomas Howard, while two of the best pass defending linebackers in the NFL, had their problems shedding blocks against the run and the tackling and hitting of Michael Huff, and Stuart Schweigert in particular, was atrocious.

While regarded as a player who held the point of attack as an end, it’s worth noting the Raiders surrendered fewer yards per carry (4.5) in games Kelly missed than in the ones he played (5.2).

Ryan said Sands’ problems had to do with not getting low enough to use his leverage and be an inside force along the lines of San Diego’s Jamal Williams. Kiffin later referred to family tragedies which affected Sands’ offseason preparation and caused him to show up last season out of shape.

Kiffin said Sands is doing better this year, so we’ll assume maybe he simply wasn’t feeling well during the minicamp practice where he was obviously out of breath in a non-contact team session.

Ryan was retained as defensive coordinator by Davis even though both he realized it was probably in his best interests to move on and told Kiffin as much.

Any chance he has of sticking around past this year will depend on how much he can get out of Kelly and Sands. Davis’ 79th birthday is today, and assume a dominant interior defensive line is near the top of his wish list.

One less day

The Raiders have moved up their reporting day to July 23 and will hold their first practice July 24.

 Interior investments crucial in stopping the run - Inside The Oakland Raiders - A look inside the world of the highly classified Oakland Raiders from the writers of ANG Newspapers