I watched all or most of three games to get an idea of Branch's strengths and weaknesses and came away impressed with what I saw.

The three games I watched were Week 9 against Denver, week 14 against Green Bay and week 17 against San Diego.

I wanted to watch some games later in the year because of the lockout. Defense takes longer than offense to gel and with a shortened offseason, most of the defenses in the NFL had coverage issues early on that are not indicative of their typical coverage abilities.

First, Branch has very good burst and takes the time to diagnose a play before exploding to put himself into a position to make a play. There are many players who do not take that moment to read the play and simply react. Those players are the most likely to fall victim to play action or other misdirection plays. Branch has enough speed to be able to read the play and then still be able to get in front of the action to make a positive play.

Branch is smaller than many Strong Safeties listed as 6'0" and only 205 lbs. Actually, he's probably on the smaller side of Free Safeties as well. Branch played CB in college and was a prolific return-man as well.

Jamal Black is a co-host of the Two Tone Crew podcast and has been playing fantasy football for more than a decade.  Jamal uses statistics heavily in projecting players' future success and attempts to look at football from many different angles to come to the best conclusions.

For more thoughts on the NFL and Fantasy Football, follow him on Twitter @Jamalisms

1. Research
That's an interesting word – "research." Some people think it is a one-time thing, but it's not. One doesn't just prepare and move on. Situations change daily in the NFL. There is a lot of fluff, a lot of fake news stories, and a lot of cloak and dagger performed by coaches as they attempt to project favorable hope for the upcoming season. You can't just read news articles one day and be done... and certainly not on the day of the draft.

You aren't searching for answers, you are researching. The inherent assumption is that it is done multiple times.

I've been playing fantasy football for more than a decade, and results are good. I play in two leagues with family and friends, and you have to go back 5 or so years to find a season that I didn't either win the playoffs or earn the top seed during the regular season. I'm an information junkie when it comes to the NFL, and over the years I've gotten quite good at it. I search, research, and then re-research. It isn't an act so much as a way of life ... and the underlying motive behind most of my media consumption.

At this time last year, the league was still embroiled in the all encompassing lockout.  The lockout ended July 25th, 2011 with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the league and the players union.

Much of the new CBA was the same as the previous agreement but there were some distinct differences, as well.  One substantial change was the introduction and agreement of a rookie wage scale that took much of the bargaining and pressure out of the first rookie contract and allowed teams and players to focus on getting players into camp on time and sufficiently compensated.

After reviewing some of the CBA language I thought it would be interesting to breakdown some of the basics of how this rookie wage formula works.

The way that the salaries for rookies are calculated has it's genesis in what is termed "rookie allocation" in the CBA.  The rookie allocation is determined using calculations of percentages of the overall Salary Cap and the rookie allocation for each player is determined, per the CBA, "based upon the number, round and position of the Club's selection choices in the Draft."

Lamarr Houston showed a lot of promise his rookie season in 2010 and many fans, media and, presumably, coaches thought he'd really be able to become a force at LDE last season. Houston did not have a bad season - he actually put up good numbers on tackles with 51 total - but his sack numbers dropped precipitately in 2011. Houston was only able to bring the QB down once last season and his personal inability to get to the QB was mirrored by the others on the defensive line.

I took some time to go through film to see what Houston can do and where his limitations lie. I watched two games from last season - game 4 versus New England and week 6 versus Cleveland.

First, some positives. When Houston is on, he's very powerful. He can really do a great job of setting the perimeter by pusing around the RT and driving him into the backfield. He's a strong run defender and can disengage from his man to make a tackle. He's also able to push his man to disrupt the RB who may be trying to bounce it outside and allow another player to come in for a tackle for loss, even if he isn't credited with the tackle.

More specifically, Houston's bull rush move was very good - not too surprising because the 6'3" 305 lbs Houston played DT in college. Houston has a good size/motor combination, being able to combine a bigger body with a sustained high energy effort. This high effort helps mask some of the deficiencies in his game just by shear force of will.

Let's talk about some of those deficiencies. First, Houston's effort can be very inconsistent. On some plays he bursts off the line and is able to bull rush the RT back and get himself into a disruption in the backfield but many times he's not as quick off the line. I especially noticed that he tends to give up on plays earlier if the call is a running play that goes to the right side of the defense. Elite DE players can make a great deal of plays on backside pursuit where they can close on a runner who tries to cut back. Houston did not show good backside pursuit and did not make plays when the runner went towards the right side of the offense.

According to multiple reports, the Raiders have shown interest in bringing veteran RB Cedric Benson in with the possibility of signing him to a contract.  Benson, 29, has a lot of milage but is a big, strong back which may fit a need for the Raiders.  He's thought of being a better fit in power scheme than the zone blocking scheme that the Raiders run.

On the surface, this move makes little sense as the Raiders already have a large stable of running backs all of which are younger and, potentially, more talented than Benson at this stage in his career.  However, it seems likely that the Raiders are signing Benson as insurance.  McKenzie has shown that he doesn't like to over pay and therefore Benson's contract - if he gets one - is likely to be for a lower amount where the team can cut him for no cost if he doesn't pan out.

If he seriously outperforms either Mike Goodson or Taiwan Jones, he can make his way on the roster and have earned it.  He also can serve as an insurance policy if either Goodson or Jones gets injured in camp, a possibility that cannot be discounted.

Benson played in 15 games last season, rushing for 1067 yards on 273 carries, an average of 3.9 yards a carry.  He also scored 6 TDs.

'Tis the season to be making predictions.  Now that the OTAs and minicamps are done for the year and before we get to training camp at the end of July, I'm going to take my shot at predicting the final roster. 

Without further adieu, here is my guess at the final 53 players. The players I think of as certain or near certain are in bold.  The ones that are in italics I consider very likely and the guesses are marked as so.

OL: 8

- Jared Veldheer, Stefon Wizniewski, Mike Brisiel, Joseph Barksdale, Tony Bergstrom, Khalif Barnes, Cooper Carlisle  and ? (guess: Alex Parsons)

Why these players?: Veldheer and Wizniewski are both up and comers and possible Pro Bowlers as soon as this season.  Mike Brisiel was the Raiders top priority in free agence and signed a 5 year deal.  Obviously, these 3 are locks to make the roster. 

Joseph Barksdale and Tony Bergstrom are in their 2nd and 1st years, respectively.  Both have zone blocking experience and both are cheap.  They've also both shown promise.  They are extremely likely to make the team as backups. 

Khalif Barnes and Cooper Carlisle were both resigned to 1 year contracts.  They have both run with the 1st team offense in OTAs and minicamp to date – Carlisle at LG and Barnes at RT.  The team would be thrilled if either was beaten outright in camp by a young player, I'd imagine, because both veterans have definite limitations.  However, they will likely start the offseason as the de facto starters and will be given the benefit of the doubt until they are beaten so I have them both as highly likely to make the squad, still. 

There are two guesses, here – I'm guessing only 8 OL players although the team could take 9 for the final squad.  I have Alex Parsons in because he's versatile enough to play guard or center.  He's been running with the first team this offseason at Center in place of injured Stefon Wizniewski. 

If the Raiders take a ninth offensive lineman, I'd expect a tackle to be retained.  At this time, only Barksdale seems likely to make the roster and be able to play at LT.  Rookie Bergstrom played RT in college and could potentially sub in, there.

-One of the biggest differences due to the changes in regime this year versus the last 50 years is the amount of information allowed to media. Gone is the "penalty box" in which media must stay during practices. Media is now allowed to range up and down the field. This allows different perspectives from varied vantage points, which is all the better for the fans.

Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie, the top dog around Alameda these days (at least in football matters) is also much more open to talking to media than was Mr. Davis. McKenzie took some time after practice Thursday to discuss his thoughts on the team and it's future. There is a good article on that round table discussion here.

-OTAs and minicamp have largely been dominated by the offense but Thursday's practice was not. Interceptions are still proving to be elusive but at least the defense was making plays and stopping the offense.

S Curtis Taylor mistimed a jump and DVD dropped passes that would have resulted in an interceptions of Leinart. Nathan Stupar did intercept Leinart. Conroy Black and Miles Burris both dropped would be interceptions of Pryor passes.

there were also some good pass defections and solid coverage. Underwood had a good pass deflected on Pryor and Shawntae Spencer had a solid deflection on a Palmer pass.

Finally, much maligned MLB Rolando McClain had a good day in coverage, causing 2 or 3 incomplete passes by being in proper position to make passes difficult.