Fans offer first impressions of DHB
NEW YORK — All of the top receivers were still on the board when the Oakland Raiders got a chance to pick 7th overall in the 2009 NFL Draft.
And Al Davis’ Raiders stayed true to form, opting for the size/speed combination of Maryland’s Darrius Heyward-Bey over the more-heralded Michael Crabtree of Texas Tech and Jeremy Maclin of Missouri.
A pair of Raiders fans who had traveled all the way from the East Bay and the front row of the Coliseum offered their opinions on the pick.
Both felt like Crabtree’s foot stress fracture — surgery for which prevented him from running at the NFL Combine — may have been a turnoff for Oakland, as well as Jeremy Maclin’s lack of an on-field record, only playing two years at Missouri.
“They went with Darrius (because) he’s fast, he was rated 25th overall in the draft and the fourth-best receiver,” one fan, Greg Curo, said. “Because of his speed, he is a little more (desirable) to them, not as raw as Maclin, and injury-free right now.”
His traveling companion, Bryan Barnes, had an even simpler explanation for the pick: “Al likes speed.”
Curo said he thinks Tom Cable wants to get the team started quickly in his first full season as a head coach, and both agreed doubts about Crabtree’s readiness for spring minicamps and summer training might have been a turnoff.
“I think we picked the best receiver we could,” Barnes said.
It won’t take much more distance than a JaMarcus Russell bomb to find out if the Raiders made the right choice: The cross-Bay rival San Francisco 49ers took Crabtree 10th overall.
