What about Khalif Barnes, Uncle Al?

By Os Davis  |   Wednesday, March 11, 2009  |  Comments( 15 )

Oakland Raiders
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A pretty freaking good Oakland Raiders offseason continued last weekend when once again the team defied expectations and remained sober when faced with the prospect of throwing out too much money on a HEE-yooge attitudinal question mark. Seriously, the bookmakers had the silver and black at whopping 1/2 odds to pick up Terrell Owens while pundits all over the airwaves chortled and giggled over the prospect.

(Then again, who had the Buffalo Bills even on the radar for this one? Conventional wisdom had at least five teams – Washington, Denver, New England, the Jets and the Giants – well ahead of Buffalo in the running for T.O)

Add the non-move to a virtual highlight reel of Raider front-office decisions in 2009: No contract for Owens; keeping Nnamdi Asomugha around; releasing Kwame Harris; re-signing Shane Lechler; and letting go of Gibril Wilson. OK, so four out of five ain’t bad.

So now that Javon Walker is reportedly [url=" http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/06/SPQR16A5OK.DTL" target="_new" title="having his contract restructured in Oakland"]having his contract restructured in Oakland</a, clearing yet more cap space, how about closing a deal with the one name-playing free agent the Raiders could really use? We’re talking Khalif Barnes here.

Earlier this week, <a href="http://raiderbeat.com/?p=1385" target="_new" title="an article appeared on RaiderBeat.com">an article appeared on RaiderBeat.com[/url] featuring that ever-talkative “source” and revealing that Oakland was out of the hunt for Barnes. The story naturally laid the blame at Al Davis’ feet, claiming that the owner wasn’t ready to commit to a starting left tackle and that Barnes’ agent had been told “thanks, but no thanks.” This story was subsequently picked up and has been promulgated across the Internet.

So until Barnes signs with the Bears, Buccaneers, 49ers or whomever else speculators and gossipers have him landing with, RealFootball365.com has the Raiders well in the Barnes hunt.

After all, the man would be a perfect fit in Oakland. At 325 pounds (officially), Barnes has got at least 25 on Mario Henderson (officially). (And if you’re wondering about those parentheticals, compare pictures of Barnes and Henderson; does that look like 25 pounds’ difference?) Right now, Henderson is atop the depth chart at the position, but if Erik Pears might actually threaten Henderson’s standing, don’t you have to worry a bit as a Raider fan? And while it may be just slightly too soon to give up on a 2007 draft pick entirely, the truth is that Barnes has been a starter since chosen in the second round by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2005. Factor into this Barnes’ hometown of San Diego, and Barnes would appear more than worthy of a fat long-term contract.

True, Barnes and the Jaguars had hardly the stellar season in 2008 as the team completely reversed direction from the year previous: Sacks allowed were up from 30 to 42, while the rushing attack went from an intimidating second best in yardage and attempts 2007 to a middle-of-the-road 18th in the categories last year. Those optimistic about Barnes can easily chalk up the rise in sackage to lead-weight David Garrard starting all 16 games while some of the slippage in rushing must be attributed to Fred Taylor’s worst statistical season ever. Factor in the exodus of free agents from Jacksonville and the Jags’ problems on ‘O’ in 2008 can hardly be placed on a single guy on the line.

The alternative to going all-out, pedal-to-the-medal, whip-out-that-checkbook-Uncle-Al on a Barnes signing? Well, that would probably be drafting a tackle with that No. 7 pick, a decent option in an O-line-heavy draft. But with so much money available and an obviously serious willingness to spend it, why aren’t the Raiders springing for a sure thing like Barnes?

What would you do?
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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No.1
The Franchise		03:12 AM
03/11/2009
1st off os, do you proof read your article before you send it out? i'm gonna go out on a limb and say NO!, khaliff barnes had...
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No.2
The Shape		05:34 AM
03/11/2009
Can Orlando Pace play Right Tackle??? If he can then it might pro long his career. I liked Kalif Barnes also but I wouldn't break...
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No.3
Raidehz		11:15 AM
03/11/2009
Uncle Al is a fitting description of this man. No owner, no president has hurt his team more than Al Davis has the Oakland...
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