Prepping the Draft

Jerry takes a look at all the people out there who are saying the Raiders are taking Darrius Heyward-Bey with the number 7 pick tomorrow. But buried in Peter King's post is this nugget, and it doesn't make me feel good:

5. I think if you read nothing else from me until after the draft (and I'll be back here Saturday morning with a few short thoughts), please, please, please remember not to get too fired up and think you've won anything in April. I remind you of the following top-15 picks in the last six years: Charles Rogers, Dewayne Robertson, Johnathan Sullivan, Jimmy Kennedy, Michael Haynes, Jerome McDougle, Robert Gallery, Reggie Williams, Alex Smith, Cedric Benson, Troy Williamson, Mike Williams, Michael Huff, Jamaal Anderson. In other words, simmer down. (Italics mine)

Wow. Two names on his list were drafted by us. Gallery's career has been saved by Tom Cable; I expect him to be a Pro Bowl guard eventually. I know, it still doesn't make him a good pick at #3, as a tackle. But with Huff, King's definitely got a point. What a waste.

For what it's worth, Jerry's not buying it; he chalks it up to the Al-Davis-Loves-Speed stereotyping going on. And he makes a good case that Michael Crabtree's "diss" of the Raiders, in reply to a question during an NFL.com chat, in which he replied to a question from a Raiders fan, "as for playing for the Raiders, no comment," that:

It’s not as if a “no comment” will carry weight with Al Davis regarding the seventh pick in the draft. He’ll take who he thinks is the best player. Hell, a no comment could get him a few extra bucks, with silence being a prized commodity at 1220 Harbor Bay Parkway.

If Crabtree is drafted by the Raiders, he’d talk on the phone for a few minutes with Davis, then emerge on conference calls and national interviews telling everyone it has always been a dream of his to wear silver and black and play with a team that has all the tradition of the Raiders.

Your goddamn right he will. If it's true that Crabtree is a poor man's Larry Fitzgerald--hell, even if he's the Homeless Man's Larry Fitzgerald--I like him in Silver & Black.