The 2011 NFL Draft is so close I can taste it. Sure, the Raiders don't have a pick today, but maybe they should try and change that. I'm not sure they'll have a player to line up at tackle otherwise.
In a week filled with the kind of legal wrangling foretold months in advance, it’s actually kind of comforting to have the NFL present a night filled with uncertainty. Tonight’s NFL draft is expected to be one of the most unpredictable in recent memory. Since teams couldn’t sign free agents or make trades during the lockout, their needs are wider than ever, leaving mock drafters and analysts guessing wildly as to what anyone may do like never before.And for all the elements we don’t know going into the draft, it comes with this wonderful qualifier: it’s at least something we can understand. While the events of this week have been laced with head-scratching legal terminology, the draft is pure football: How fast did he run, how many touchdowns did he score, and how will he help my team win?
It seems odd that while the labor struggles have ushered in an era of ambiguity, we’d be excited about something so inexact. While owners and players haggle over the state of the game, incoming rookies will be taken in a wide-open draft that has everyone from Rolling Stone to the Christian Science Monitor postulating on selections. The first pick, owned by the Carolina Panthers, is expected to be Auburn quarterback Cam Newton—a Heisman trophy and national championship-winning quarterback with a ton of talent but some off-field issues—his father allegedly asked Mississippi State for money when Cam was choosing schools to transfer to from Florida—hanging over his head. Newton, who has denied any knowledge of wrongdoing on his father’s part, seems to perfectly encapsulate the theme of this draft: talented quarterbacks and players with troubled college careers.
As for ol' man Walker, I had no idea. He's only 31, and he hasn't had a history of injuries. Maybe he is just telling people this to try and get more money on his next contract. But if he retires it is going to make the need to draft a tackle even more pressing.
I wasn't thrilled about the idea of having Walker start the 2011 season as right tackle, but at least he was a fairly viable option that brought some plus play to the run game. Ideally, I was hoping the Raiders would bring someone in to take his place at tackle and have Walker to start at guard and/or for depth, but Walker dangled out their like a tattered security blanket.
We can get more into free agency after the draft, but take a quick look at the list on WalterFootball.com of free agent tackles, and it paints a pretty grim picture. Given the increasing reality that the NFL is going to play under the same rules it did in 2010, there are only about four or five tackles that aren't tendered that would be an upgrade over Walker at tackle. And it is not like Walker set a high upgrade bar.
While I like quite a few linemen the Raiders will likely have a chance to draft in the second-round I don't like any of their chances as an opening day starter at RT. Expecting to land a RT in free agency is going to be an expensive roll of the dice. I really don't expect the Raiders to trade up to the first-round to take a tackle, but it may be the only way to land a capable starter.
Source walterfootball
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