The 2009 Oakland Raiders depth chart: Offense

By Os Davis  |   Wednesday, March 18, 2009  |  Comments( 34 )

Oakland Raiders
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The future: If you squint, you can almost see it. As the NFL draft approaches slowly, the pieces are falling into place for the Oakland Raiders and you can nearly envision the opening day roster. A few more additions are surely forthcoming, but the starting squads are definitely settling months before minicamp.

Ladies and gentlemen, a brief hop into the future for a look at yourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 2009 Oakland Raiders (offense)!

LT: Khalif Barnes; TBD. May RealFootball365 add another “nice move, Al Davis” to the chorus of NFL observers giving the Barnes acquisition the thumbs up? Barnes makes for an instant upgrade over 2008 and Kwame Harris – good riddance there – while Mario Henderson can switch to the right side, where he really should have been all along. Figure a third-rounder to be backing up Barnes in 2009.

LG: Robert Gallery; Chris Morris. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you’re stuck with ‘em, Raider Nation. No matter how deep this draft class is with offensive linemen, the team can’t fill all its O-line needs. And Oakland liked Morris well enough to re-sign him. Yep, nothing changes here.

C: John Wade; TBD. With Jake Grove gone, the Raiders will be calling on Mr. Wade to step it up this year; anyone else not quite sold on this guy yet? Here’s to thinking that Davis et al aren’t, either. Pencil in a second-round draft pick to back up at center.

RG: Cooper Carlisle; Jason Fabini. Mark my words here: The Raiders will sign at least one more offensive lineman – not Orlando Pace, though – and stick him here. Fabini appears to be the best available guard for the price, so we’ll use his name here.

RT: Mario Henderson; Erik Pears; Cornell Green; James Marten. Whoa, what happened here? All of a sudden the Raiders have a logjam at this position? Hmmm, maybe they could move Henderson over to the left side.

TE: Zach Miller; Tony Stewart; Darrell Strong. Regular readers of RF365’s Raiders columns know about this writer’s high opinion of Miller. If Stewart can follow through on some of that serious potential, the Raiders might quietly soon be boasting the best young TE tandem in the business.

WR: Johnnie Lee Higgins; Chaz Schilens; Michael Crabtree/Jeremy Maclin; Todd Watkins; Jonathan Holland; a warm body. Taking a studly looking wide receiver in the first round of the draft may not be the safest move, but more and more it seems obvious the Raiders’ll be going that way, so figure Crabtree/Maclin to be backing up Higgins as well as spending some serious time on special teams.

This looks like a decent enough young corps for JaMarcus Russell to learn to throw to, but prospects for that sixth spot are just scary. The broken Javon Walker is still metaphorically hanging around, and Ashley Lelie has at least until Sept. 1 to prove he’s still worth his salt. Yeesh, what a choice.

FB: Luke Lawton. The Raiders haven’t been overly powerful at fullback for years and this trend should continue into 2009. Lawton is competent, however; Marcel Reece and Oren O’Neal wait in the wings of the practice squad.

RB: Darren McFadden; Michael Bush; Justin Fargas. Whoa, nice 1-2-3 here. Better not change a thing.

QB: JaMarcus Russell; Bruce Gradkowski; Andrew Walter. For Russell’s do-or-die year, Raider management made a nice under-the-radar move in inking Gradkowski. Now that’s a proper backup quarterback. Walter is OK in the No. 3 spot if only for familiarity’s sake, but don’t you suspect that Davis is thinking about Rex Grossman?

Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.
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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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