Silver and Black Report

Before today’s pre-season game against the New Orleans Saints, the Oakland Raiders announced the signing of linebacker Chris O’Neill and the release of Napoleon Harris.

O’Neill signed initially with the Raiders during the off-season as an un-drafted free-agent tight end out of Boise State. He played linebacker in training camp before Oakland decided to part ways with him.

Harris was in Napa on Monday for his second tenure with the Silver & Black. He spent the week with the team, but Oakland decided that their former 1^st round selection in the 2002 draft was not going to ultimately make the final roster.

• The Oakland Raiders brought back Napoleon Harris yesterday; the same linebacker that was traded for Randy Moss after the 2004 campaign. The former first round draft choice (23^rd overall) of the Silver & Black has made stops in Minnesota (2005-2006 & 2008) and Kansas City (2007-2008) before coming back to the bay area. Out of Northwestern, the once boisterous defender has tallied 481 tackles, 8.5 sacks and 4 forced fumbles in his career. He’ll always be remembered for being traded to the Vikings in exchange for Moss. Oakland also sent the seventh overall pick in that draft and a seventh rounder to Minnesota. Harris wore number 96 in practice and worked with the second team. SB Report journalist DeMarcus Davis stated, “The one play I saw him make was a tackle on Michael Bush up the middle. Harris shed his blocker to make the tackle.”
• Javon Walker worked with the team for the first time on Monday and looked crisp running his route drills. The wide receiver is expected to play versus the Saints this week, but is not sure for how long. “The rehab part is the hard part,” Walker said. “The easy part is being out there practicing and catching balls now.”
• Oakland released CB Ricky Manning Jr to make room for Harris. Manning was signed on August 15 and played during the pre-season for the Silver & Black.
• JaMarcus Russell had another up-and-down day in practice. He zipped the ball a few times to Louis Murphy and Darrius Heyward-Bey. The rookie out of Maryland was observed dropping another ball that was a perfect toss.
• Ricky Brown played MLB along with Jon Alston and Thomas Howard.
• Raiders that sat out of practice: Shane Lechler (groin), Justin Fargas (hamstring), Mike Mitchell (hamstring) & Hiram Eugene (flu).