Silver and Black Report

Archived from 2008: Raiders K Sebastian Janikowski

The Oakland Raiders began their three-day minicamp on Friday with two practice sessions. They will continue with two more sessions today before they wrap up with one more on Sunday. Here are highlights, news and notes from Friday:

JaMarcus Russell was sheltered by the Silver & Black, specifically Eddie Anderson, who was a mediator and ring leader in controlling what questions were asked and what direction media members wanted to take the question and answer session. The former Raiders safety cut off any questions that had to do with any of the newsworthy issues surrounding the embattled passer.

As expected, Richard Seymour was not in Alameda, as Tom Cable stated that the team is trying to hammer out a long-term deal with the defensive lineman. He has not signed his exclusive franchise tag either. “We’re trying to get it done so he’s all ours,’’ Cable stated.

Running back Michael Bennett was trying out for the club. The veteran running back has played for the Minnesota Vikings, Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Diego Chargers.

Tom Cable’s observations:

“We had two weeks before we did that minicamp, there was kind of a lull in there and that was a reason for doing it right after the draft,’’ Cable reflected after last year’s bad start to camp. “I think it’s reflected in that the ball’s not on the ground and we don’t look like the Keystone Cops out there.’’

Jason Campbell’s impressions:

“I’ve been through about 10 of them, so somewhere along the like I’ve run a lot of these plays, trying to find the rhythm, get used to the guys around me and get back into the groove.”

“I’m just here to work. Just here to work, get better every day,’’ Campbell said. “ I’ll let coach Cable make that decision and Mr. Al Davis. My job is to come out here every day and compete, keep working on things and try to improve the offense.’’

What did the defense look like?

To start the camp, the defensive alignment looked like this: DE Jay Richardson, DT Tommy Kelly, DT Desmond Bryant, DE Matt Shaughnessy, LB Kamerion Wimbley, LB Rolando McClain, LB Trevor Scott, CB Nnamdi Asomugha, CB Chris Johnson, SS Tyvon Branch and FS Michael Huff.

“I was looking at the playbook and there are some things that we didn’t do last year.,’’ Asomugha said. “Like always, it’s a matter of how well we do it at this time of the year and then in the summer as to whether we actually play it. So it’s going to depend on us and then how comfortable the coaches feel.’’

Hue Jackson…

One of the hardest working men on and off the field…

Bruce Campbell and Chris Cooper battle in the trenches, a little bit feisty for a minicamp…

Quarterbacks, JaMarcus Russell, Jason Campbell, Charlie Frye and Kyle Boller all got their reps in: “It means nothing. Don’t look anything into that. If you do, you’re wasting ink,” said Cable.

Oren O’Neal was waived. The fullback was slowed down significantly after his knee injury in 2008. Oakland’s fullback competition is wide open…

Ricky Brown will be limited all weekend…

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Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist