Silver and Black Report

The Oakland Raiders will be busy next week at the NFL Draft. But so far this month, they have made a few moves on their roster. Here is a capsule of the Silver & Black’s recent transactions:

The 19th overall selection in the 2003 draft – Kyle Boller – was added to the Raiders roster. The former Cal signal caller has played for the Baltimore Ravens (2003-2008) and the St. Louis Rams (2009). In his career, Boller has tallied 8,745 passing yards, 48 touchdowns, 50 interceptions at a 56.8 completion rate and a passer rating of 70.6. He’ll likely battle for the third spot on the depth chart behind JaMarcus Russell and Bruce Gradkowski. All signs indicate that the Raiders will have an open competition in the summer at quarterback, but Russell will jolt out of the gate with the lead due to the draft and monetary commitment that Oakland locked themselves in.

Kirk Morrison signed his restricted free agent tender deal offer this week. The one-year contract will land him nearly $2.5 million if he makes the roster. While Oakland slapped a 3^rd round tender on the middle linebacker, no team bit and now Oakland can trade him if they choose to do so.

Kicker Swayze Waters was also added to the roster. With the quality of legs already on the unit, Waters will be fodder eventually unless an injury keeps Sebastian Janikowski or Shane Lechler off the field. Waters best chance to make a squad in 2010 will be to learn as much as possible from the incumbents and impress in his stints during the pre-season, if he even makes it that far.

Since Boller is now on the roster, will Oakland attempt to roll the dice on the passer in the draft? A week ago, a report by the National Football Post stated that the Raiders were working out Northwestern quarterback Mike Kafka. And in recent weeks, speculation about Donovan McNabb, Jimmy Clausen and Tim Tebow has been rampant.

As for McNabb, who was traded to the Redskins, while on ESPN radio the chatty passer stated, “I would have been at the workouts and working out with the team, throwing and trying to get the timing down with the corps of receivers and running backs they have and communicated with the offensive line to get ready for minicamp,” if he would have been a member of the Silver & Black.

Chris Cooper is back with the Raiders. The defensive lineman who has played for San Francisco, Dallas and Seattle and Arizona since leaving the Raiders following the 2003 season, inked a deal with Oakland last week. Linebacker Sam Williams was also signed, as the 29-year old will likely continue his role as a reserve and a special teams contributor.

Here is a list of Oakland Raiders that are ready to become unrestricted free agents next month. The following players are free to sign with another team in an uncapped season starting March 5. Info provided by NFLLabor.com.

• Cornell Green, RT
• William Joseph, DT
• Richard Seymour, DL
• John Wade, C
• Langston Walker, OL
• Sam Williams, OLB

Analysis

Seymour is the top priority of this bunch. If he is not signed to a long-term extension – as he would like – Oakland will tag him their franchise player. Williams is a solid special teamer, a guy who always finds a way to stick around and an all-around solid character off the field. Oakland will try to retain him at an adequate cost, which should not be that difficult since he’s not starter material anywhere else. Walker could be brought back for depth, but he’s obviously not a priority. In no way should Green be retained. Tom Cable defends him far too often and relies on the veteran unnecessarily. He’s been a faulty member of that offensive line for several seasons and inexplicably, he returns to the starting line-up every year instead of being jettisoned.

In this final installment of SBReport’s interview with Isaiah Ekejiuba, the special teams standout detailed the importance having Tom Cable as head coach, gives you insight on how he handled being a free-agent this off-season and reminisces about Marquis Cooper.

SBREPORT: The organization believed enough in Tom Cable to take the interim label off and will look to let him lead this team after a solid end to the 2008 campaign. How do you feel about the front office giving Cable the opportunity to continue his work on the sidelines?

EKEJIUBA: “I think between the players and the fans, there is a lot of new energy right now with coach Cable. This guy from time he took over, he had a strong belief on this team and he kept saying, ‘this is a good team.’ And he would say that almost everyday. ‘This is a good team – win or lose.’”

At the end of the year, when we had nothing to play for, we were out of the playoffs, he kept saying, ‘this is a good team.’ And we went out there and showed we can play some really good football the last two games of the season. So that brought a lot of energy and a lot of doubters came back on board.

A lot of fans stuck with us and we appreciate that. But when we won the last two games, a couple of people that slipped off the bandwagon were coming back on. They started seeing what the players had already seen in coach Cable in the locker room. He loves the Raiders. He loves winning. And he loves this team. When you have somebody like that that is willing to do anything to win, its fun to play for a guy like that.”

Raider fans have had unwavering support of their team through the recent dark days. Ekejiuba’s family, particularly his sister Felicia and her friends, have had a safe haven to watch, experience and take part of the happenings within the Raider Nation family through the welcoming arms of The Jersey Shore Oakland Raider Booster Club. The JSRBC has helped bind the ties of unity within the Ekejiuba family, who have that New Jersey connection and Raider fans located in the east coast.

Club President and Founder Gary M. Brown, who was a driving force in facilitating this exclusive interview also helped contribute to the content found in this three-part dialogue, received the Ekejiuba’s into the club and Isaiah commented about the loyalty and warm-heartedness the members have shown in making life away for his sister a lot easier when she watches games with the fleet of Raider fans in Jersey. “That’s an awesome group and they show dedication and commitment. Like I’ve said, it’s wonderful knowing there is that type of love and support that the fans give the team. My sister has talked about [JSRBC], I’ve heard nothing but classy things and when there is support in Oakland to  New Jersey like that, it binds all together.”

 He continued, “I’ll try to get back there [to the east coast] in June.

 “My sister and her boyfriend are always, after I go home, they are always on ‘em [Raiderfans.net and SBReport.net]. Matter of fact, that’s where I get a lot information, that I don’t know, that everybody else knows before me. Those guys from Jersey are as good as it gets and knowing that is really encouraging.” 

Ekejiuba has high hopes for the special teams as well. Partly because of the continuity they will have after re-signing most of the players he feels are cornerstones on that unit. When asked about his expectations regarding John Fassel’s group, he stated, “We talked a lot; we want to be the best unit in the league. You don’t want to be second to anybody. People do, people from different teams, we talk about other players, watch other teams. They are going to give you an example, well, here are the top four special teams from last year. So our group, being in tact, its one year to be comfortable. We re-sign a pro-bowl punter, the best in the league, and there is no question to me that with him, he’s our captain and the way Shane [Lechler] controls things, and coach Fassel being with us last year, I think we are just going to keep getting better. I see a lot of good things for us.”

The Raiders inked Ekejiuba to a 3-year deal for $5.4 million with a $1.25 million signing bonus. In the first year of the contract, the Pro Bowl alternate last season will earn $2.45 million. SBReport inquired about the negotiations and whether or not he had interest from other clubs when free agency began.

“With the whole negotiation, I really didn’t deal a lot with that. My agent did a great job talking to the Raiders and in trying to take a lot of stress off of me. It’s a very stressful period; you don’t know what the future holds, so he did a lot, helping me trying to relax and getting my mind off that.

I expressed to him I wanted to come back. They told me we want you back. It would be nice to have you back. So that’s how we started to talk. There were a couple of other teams that were interested in me. I was going to go on some visits, but I talked to coach Cable and Al Davis and we ironed a lot of things out and got the deal done without me having to go visit any of the other teams. So that took a lot of pressure off and it showed that the Raiders appreciated me and its good to be back.”

SBREPORT: The deal is among the highest in the league for a special teamer. Do you now feel that there is more of a burden on you to play at a high level to justify the contract?

EKEJIUBA: “Yeah, I think so. You getting a lot of money to do a job and if you are getting paid for it, you have to do an excellent job, or they wouldn’t give you that kind of money. There is pressure to play better.

I don’t think the Raiders are putting more pressure on me than what I put on myself. I know how good of a player I can be. I know where I am and I know where I want to get. I put more pressure on myself with or without the contract to go out there and prove that I am the best, because that what it’s about. At the end of the day, are they going to say, ‘wow, he was a great player’, or, ‘yeah, he was alright.’

You don’t want them to talk about you and say, ‘he played well when he didn’t have money, now he has a little money and his level of play has fell off.’ I want to go to the Pro-Bowl every year, I want to go out there and make plays. And don’t let that drop-off. There is a lot of pressure, but there is more from myself than from the organization.”

Ekejiuba is looking forward to continue his career in Silver & Black. Something he is proud of, especially playing in front of one of the most rabid fans in the NFL. He talked about ‘the Black Hole’ and the dedication of the Raider Nation:

“Oh, the Black Hole is crazy. You can’t really explain it in words. I try to talk to a couple of my friends that are on other teams that talk about their fan base and I tell them, ‘if you come to the Black Hole, its an experience you will never forget.’ And those guys, I have a couple of friends from other teams and they come out here and play us and they say, ‘damn those fans are crazy.’ And yeah, that is what we go through every week we play here. We have great fans, rain or shine, win or lose, they are there supporting us. It’s wonderful being out there seeing the kind of love and support that the fans give the team. That makes you want to give back. They are giving up their time and effort to come here and watch us play; we want to win for us, but we want to win for the Raider family, fans, players and the whole organization.”

This off-season has been a tough one for the Raider family due to the unfortunate incident that has occurred to Marquis Cooper and the boaters he was with near Clearwater Florida. Cooper set out on a fishing trip early March 1 from the Seminole Boat Ramp in Clearwater with three friends — former Buccaneer Corey Smith and two former University of South Florida players, Will Bleakley and Nick Schuyler. Since, only Schuyler has been found clinging to the overturned raft and the rest of the groups has been presumed dead.

An emotional Ekejiuba shared some moments about his time with Cooper and recollections about the missing Raider:

“Well, [if anyone has said], ‘he wasn’t a Raider that long’, man, but he was a Raider long enough. I came into work one day and I saw Cooper on the depth chart and this was after Jarrod Cooper had retired. And I was like, did they sign him back without letting anybody know? And I come in, and this guy was sitting there and he was like, ‘Hi I’m Marquis Cooper.’ Quiet guy, quiet type. And it was a short period of time but he gelled quickly. And there was nobody that talked to him, a player or coach, that didn’t like Marquis. He was that type of guy. There is a lot of times I played on the kickoff returns where we played the center, right there in the middle and we always talked right before the team kicked the ball off on how things were going. Sometimes you are just so nervous, you don’t even talk about football. Talk about little things. I mean, he was just a great guy. He was such a great family guy. That is what he was about. He loved his wife [Rebekah] and his daughter [Delaney].

We used to go over to Sam Williams’ house and he showed us pictures of his wife and daughter. And he was just real proud. There was an air about him when he spoke about his family. And you appreciate that and a lot of guys that age don’t have their life together. But he had everything together.

He was a great friend. He will definitely be missed. His family misses him. I miss him personally. We became real cool.”

SBReport thanks Isaiah for a great interview and the opportunity to get to know him better, gain insight regarding his football career and thoughts about the Raiders, their fans and recent happenings in his professional and personal life.

Contact Author: Victor Cotto – SB Report Columnist

For the Oakland Raiders, rookie running back Darren McFadden will miss his third straight contest, designated inactive for today’s game versus the Carolina Panthers.

Oakland will start Andrew Walter today, as JaMarcus Russell was also on the inactive list along with WR Ronald Curry, OL James Marten and OL John Wade.

On defense, Derrick Burgess will sit again along with linebacker Ricky Brown.

Sam Williams will start today in place of Brown, who was replaced by Robert Thomas last week before he was injured and eventually placed on injured reserve.

Kalimba Edwards will be in the starting line-up once again in place of Burgess.

For Russell, it’s the first game missed in his career due to injury. Throughout the week, rumors circled regarding his aching right knee and whether he would be able to make the start. 

For the Panthers; CB CJ Wilson, LB James Anderson, G Mackenzy Bernadeau, T Frank Omiyale, WR Dwayne Jarett, WR Kenneth Moore, DT Darwin Walker and QB Matt Moore (3^rd in the depth chart) occupied the inactive list.