The Raiders have known their 2012 opponents for some time, now, but will find out their actual schedule when the NFL announces it later today.  The announcement is set for 7pm ET/4pm PT tonight and can be watched on ESPN, among other places.

Here is a link to see the already-announced Preseason schedule and the teams that the Raiders will play at home and away.

For more Raiders news and analysis, follow me on Twitter @AsherMathews

The Raiders announced that they re-signed Safety Matt Giordano, yesterday night.

Giordano is 29.  He played for the Raiders last season as a backup, but started 9 games at FS due to an injury to Michael Huff.

Giordano's signing is likely for depth as he struggles with coverage assignments at times.  He did lead the team with 5 interceptions last season.

He played in 15 games total last year for the Raiders, and amassed 66 total tackles and one sack along with the interceptions.

For more Raiders news and analysis, follow me on Twitter @AsherMathews

The Raiders announced that they had signed potential TE Andre Hardy, late yesterday.

Hardy is very much a developmental prospect, having not played football in college.  He did play basketball, for the last two years at Cal State Fullerton, as a power forward.

The Raiders will be hoping that Hardy can transition from a basketball background to be a pass catching TE, much like Antonio Gates did with the Chargers.

Reggie McKenzie, the Raiders GM, was asked yesterday about whether he sees Terrelle Pryor as a viable possible backup for Carson Palmer as soon as this next season.

His response was, "Absolutely. Yep. Hopefully our quarterback coach and offensive coordinator, the staff, can work him starting next week's voluntary minicamp. And see if we can get him rolling. It's going to be a constant evaluation. But they need to find out how good he is and how good he can be."

TFDS has been skeptical of the lack of a veteran backup QB signed to date so his answer was somewhat surprising.  Since then, I've been mulling over why he wouldn't be signing another option.

Reviewing tape for new Raiders CB Shawntae Spencer was an interesting challenge.  First, Spencer didn't play much last season.  He went into the offseason training camp but was injured very quickly and by the time he healed he was down on the depth chart.

So, his 2011 tape was almost worthless, he played so infrequently.  I went back to 2010 tape to get a better idea of the player he could be.

Yesterday, Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie spoke with the Bay Area media about his basic draft philosophies as we approach the 2012 NFL Draft.

There wasn't anything too amazing in the press conference but there were a couple of points that stood out.

Probably the most important is that he has little to no interest in trading up at the expense of future draft picks, especially high ones.  The practice, which Raiders fans were accustomed to under Al Davis' draft days, tends to not return as much value because the team must trade away a higher future pick for a lower pick at present.

McKenzie also said he isn't adverse to trading at any given time, depending on what the offer was.

He said that his draft philosophy is to take the best player available regardless of need unless there are a couple that are graded very close and then need comes into it.  He said that the mini-camp that starts April 17th will help the coaches decide where their needs truly are and that he will sit down with Allen and some of the other coaches to discuss that before the draft.

Finally, McKenzie said they will look at QB Terrelle Pryor as a possible backup, starting with the upcoming mini-camp, and will see if he is able to handle that role or if they need to bring in a veteran at the position.

Here is a link to a transcript of the conference.

For more Raiders news and analysis throughout the day, follow me on Twitter @AsherMathews

The Raiders signed former Colts LB Philip Wheeler during free agency to a one year contract.  As a new addition to the Raiders squad, I watched game tape of two games to get an idea of his strengths and weaknesses as a player.

Linebackers are harder to evaluate than many positions because they work as a unit more than most other positions.  The scheme also plays heavily into where a linebacker is supposed to lineup and what gap they are to hit.