The Terrible Franchise that is the Oakland Raiders

By Dan Rodgers

You might wonder why I would dedicate an entire post to the Oakland Raiders. Well, I'm not too sure ... maybe Al Davis makes everyone that listens stupider.

The NFL held their annual supplemental draft on Monday. The only player that was selected was former Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor. Considering this post is about the Raiders, you can assume that Pryor was drafted in the third round by Oakland.

In case you're not familiar with the supplemental draft, this will help you out:
Players that didn't file for the NFL draft or were for some reason ineligible are allowed to enter the supplemental draft. Teams must submit a "bid" for a player when the round arrives that they want to select them. However, they must forfeit their pick in that round in the following year's draft. For example, the Raiders selected Terrelle Pryor in the third round. Now they have to forfeit their third-round pick in the 2012 draft. The Raiders don't have a second- or fourth-round pick in next year's draft, so they selected Pryor in the third round and didn't risk another team selecting him in the fourth.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Fun fact: Oakland has drafted the player with the fastest 40-yard dash time at the combine in Indianapolis the past three years.

I understand Al Davis has a history with the NFL, dating as far back as the AFL, but he is over 80 years old and has not successfully run the franchise for a few years. It seems like all he is interested in is the most athletically-gifted players. He over-drafted Darrius Heyward-Bey a few years ago, took Terrelle Pryor as I mentioned above, drafted Jacoby Ford (incredible speed), Darren McFadden and the list goes on...

The NFL needs to step in and do something about this problem if the franchise doesn't turn around soon. The QBs on the roster are Jason Campbell, Kyle Boller, Trent Edwards and Pryor when the sign him. That is utterly pathetic. Campbell could have been a quality starter but got stuck in a terrible situation in Washington before going to Oakland.

Basically, I would give the Raiders a few "probationary" years to get the franchise in better shape. Then, I would require minority owners in the team to devise a plan for ownership and decision-making within the franchise. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy laughing at them, but the Raiders struggles are not good for the game.

They differ from the Bills, Lions, Rams and other teams that might be struggling. Clearly the Lions and Rams are on the up-tick. The Bills are terrible but make decent personnel moves and attempt to bring in proven talented players to help the team.

However, while the Raiders want to suck, I'll gladly take one more game against a lesser opponent on the Jets schedule.

Rodgers That