Greg Olsen = Doug Jolley

Why would Oakland draft a wide receiver specifically to convert to a receiving tight end one season after spending the 55 pick on Jolley if they were happy with him?

What about Al Davis suggests to you that he likes to throw away second round picks when he doesn't have too?

 

Marquez Tuiasosopo tells me that Al Davis will do anything to get the taste of Jon Gruden out of his mouth. 2nd round draft pick or not.

 

Gruden didn't draft Jolley. He was in TB by 2002 when the Raiders took Jolley.

Callahan didn't really have very much control over the draft the way Gruden did. Davis really ran the Raiders drafts from 2002-2005. Last year he let Shell have what he wanted and he really hated that result. I am guessing the calls are all Davis this year with a 31 year old rookie head coach.

 

I was actually using the Tui thing as an example, I probably shouldn't have included the comment about Gruden. I am aware that Jolley wasn't drafted by Gruden, but also aware that Al Davis doesn't do too many things that make sense concerning draft value.

 

Actually Davis has been pretty much on the mark over the years with his picks. He's had some people not work out but he generally knows what he's doing. That's why I think he knew Jolley was likely to bust after 2002 and drafted a similar replacement for him. Note that Teyo Johnson didn't even work out for him and he still could not wait to ditch Jolley on the first unsuspecting fool who offered.

 

And what exactly has Teyo Johnson done that makes you think Al Davis had his ducks in a row? Al Davis is a whimsical old man who rules his roost with an iron colostomy bag; I'm not saying that Jolley made sense for us or for the Raiders, but the mere fact that Davis replaced him with yet another WR converted to TE makes me think that he had exactly what he did with Jolley planned out from the start.

 

Jolley flat out stank and was a total waste of draft picks and a bust................

 

Thats Funny... too bad Jolley couldn't hold Olsen's Jock...

 

Unfortunately you can't go into a draft drafting for needs alone... that's how you end up like Cleveland and Detroit

 

I don't see the comparison. I'm not in favor of taking Olson but I just feel like rather then watch actual footage someone just threw up this comparison out of hatred for the idea of the Jets taking a first round tight end, not merit.

 

My point was that Al Davis was the guy who drafted Jolley and then gave up on him in record time. There's no question that Davis wanted a receiving tight end to work in the vertical game that he has always favored (when Gruden was not around) and that he made two picks in a row trying to find that threat. The first pick (Jolley) did not work out the way he wanted and ultimately Johnson did not either but Davis didn't wait around to see how Johnson was going to work out before he dumped Jolley.

To their credit the new guys in NY took one look at Jolley and dumped him too. I'm betting Gruden dumps him this year. Lack of talent is a career-ending disease in the NFL.

 

I'm talking needs and BPA available within those needs. Why add carpeting to a house that doesn't yet have a roof?

 

I think more players have their careers ended by mismanagement and bad coaching rather than lack of talent. Hell, half this board had us cutting Bryan Thomas outright rather than keeping him a season ago, and now a new CS has utilized him so well he has gotten himself a huge, long-term contract. I think to say that Jolley lacks talent is a bit short-sighted. Lacking the right mentality to utilize his talent is quite another thing, but at what point do you fault the organization and not the player?

 

Yes, every one of those positions can be upgraded but they are not "glaring needs". There is a return starter from last year's 10-6 team still on the roster at each one of those positions listed. This is why I used the term "no glaring needs". This is unlike going into the 06 draft when we had many glaring needs. At that time, we lost Fabini, Mawae; we were unclear if Martin and Chad would be back healthy. Those were ?glaring needs?. All you are doing is over-exaggerating the Jets? current situation, so you can promote your very unoriginal point of view.

 

first of all i cannot see any player in the draft thats going to fall to us at 25 whom is a cb and can start day one for us, it's would be a mistake like last season wasting a high pick on a 3rd string qb.

 

I was going to respond top this... but Kurt answered it perfectly... nothing else to say

 

I don't know the reasoning, does anyone know why the Raiders do anything? all I know is they loved Jolley as a rookie. Just b/c you draft a player in a position you already have a starter doesn't mean you hate your starter. They used their 3rd pick of the draft on Johnson so if they hated Jolley so much maybe they would have spent a higher pick on a TE that was a TE coming into the draft?

http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/Features/NFList/2002/nflist1727.htm

That dosn't sound like a guy that the raiders were eager to replace.

 

I would have loved if we took Davis last year so I have to disagree with you on this.

If in fact he is a top 15 player and falls to 25, he won't be a steal, players fall for a reason.

Gates is an absolute stud and one of the best recieving weapons in the league. That's like saying Bryan Thomas has a similiar style to LT. It may be similiar in style but when you have a dominating player at any position, type casting is irrelevant.


That aside, Chad uses the WR and RB in dump patterns as a security blanket, why would you want a big fast target as a security blanket? We are much better off using Washington in that role who has the elusive speed to make things happen in the dump pattern. We might as well get a real threat in a big, fast WR who we can utilize outside or in the slot and this draft is heavy in that department. Putting another guy on the line who can't block on our team right now doesn't seem like the right move.