Amid the drafted and undrafted rookies that participated in the May minicamp held by the Raiders, a number of more veteran players were also given a chance to tryout.  One of those tryout players was Kevin Haslam – a 6'5" 304 lb offensive lineman out of Rutgers.

Haslam showed enough in the minicamp that the Raiders signed him to the roster and he has been with the team in OTAs, making a push to make the final squad.

Haslam was an undrafted free agent in 2010 and was signed to the Jaguars in camp and made the final squad as an UDFA which speaks to his skill and drive.

He suffered a hand injury in 2010 and then a torn MCL in 2011 ending on IR both seasons.  He was released by the Jaguars in March of 2012.

Haslam is athletic enough to play in the zone blocking scheme that the Raiders are re-installing this year.  He can play both tackle and guard and has good size.

He was kind enough to answer some questions to let Raider Nation get to know him a little better.

He's active on Twitter and you can follow him @KHaslam72

Questions

Q: What is your home town/state?
Haslam: Mahwah, NJ

Media were allowed into view a Raiders OTA again this week and, after some time to digest the story-lines and sift through all of the information, TFDS will attempt to pull out the pieces that are likely to affect the team.

As with most sessions this time of year, we must take much of the camp with a grain of salt.  Again, the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) strictly prohibits contact between the players in Organized Team Activities (OTAs) so we are almost completely unable to make determinations on the defense.

OTAs also don't allow any pads and so it's also difficult to judge the offense.  What is judged is movement, change of direction, explosiveness and, with receivers, ability to make receptions at all points on the fields and how well they can use their hands, catch away from their bodies and get vertical for a reception.

The Raiders addressed a major need with the 129th pick in the 4th round of the 2012 Draft when they took Miles Burris out of San Diego State.

Burris, a redshirt senior, was extremely durable in his four years playing at San Diego State as he was in 12 or 13 games each of 4 season.

He had more than 75 tackles in both his junior and senior season and those two seasons combined also yielded 17.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles.

Burris earned acolades for more than his on-field achievements, too, being named a Mid West Conference all-academic honoree multiple times.

Burris will start his Raiders career at OLB, per head coach Dennis Allen, but has the versatility to be able to play both outside and inside.

Burris was kind enough to take some time and answer questions for TFDS.  You can follow him on Twitter @MilesBurris

Questions:

Q: What is your home town/state?
Burris: Granite Bay, CA

Q: Did you root for a particular NFL team growing up? Who? Why?
Burris: Of the Bay Area teams I followed the raiders an went to quite a few games growing up, always loved watching them play. I also followed the Tennessee Titans because I was a big Steve McNair fan.

Raiders restricted free agent Marcel Reece signed his exclusive rights tender yesterday and will be practicing with the team beginning today, the team announced yesterday.

Reece had little leverage and a hold out seemed very unlikely as no team had made him an offer and his choice was to either sign his tender or hold out for the season.

There are rumblings that the Raiders and Reece's agent have been working on a long-term deal but while the details are still being worked out it was important for Reece to get into OTAs and begin to learn the playbook and the nuances of the Fullback position under Greg Knapp.

With their sixth round, 189th pick overall, of the 2012 draft, the Raiders tabbed DT Christo Bilukidi from Georgia State to join their roster.  Bilukidi became the first player ever selected from the school, which is in the Football Championship Subdvision (FCS, formerly Division 1-AA).

Bilukidi played in basketball in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and has only somewhat recently become a football player as a Senior in High School.

Bilukidi played for Eastern Arizona Junior College in 2009 where he was listed as playing DE.  He played in 10 games and ended with 24 total tackles, 5 for loss and 4 sacks that season.

He transitioned to Georgia State in 2010 and 2011 where he was their top defensive lineman with 10 career sacks – the school's record – and 16 career tackles for loss over the two seasons.  He achieved 5 sacks both years playing for Georgia State. 

He lined up at DT, mostly, but also was able to slide over to play DE at need.

Bilukidi has recently joined Twitter and you can follow him, there @montechristo96

Interview:

Q: What is your home city/country?

Bilukidi: Ottawa, Canada

Last year, in the 5th round, the Raiders took a chance on a talented but inconsistent wide receiver out of Tennessee named Denarius Moore. Moore had had some success in college but changes in coaching had caused him to be less productive in his later years, which contributed to his fall to the fifth round.

From the very start of camp, he was the talk of Raider fans and media as well as occasioning comment from many of the players and coaches for his speed, sure hands and acrobatic receptions.

I wanted to get a good idea of Moore's strengths and weaknesses so I went to multiple games from last season to see what I could find.

Usually for a players Tale of the Tape I try to watch 2-3 games if the player is a starter because that usually gives me a good idea of what that player can do. If the player is a backup, I'll watch more to get a larger sample size but I'll go through the game logs and watch plays that the player is in, not every play.

Moore proved to be somewhat difficult, however, so I ended up watching 5 games of his film. I watched 3 games with Jason Campbell as the QB - namely weeks 2, against Buffalo, 3, against the Jets & 4 against New England - and then 2 with Palmer under center - weeks 10 & 11, against San Diego and Minnesota, respectively.

The primary reason that Moore's Tale of the Tape was more difficult than many others is that he does so many things well. I try very hard to find strengths and weaknesses on the players I review and an all positive tape-review isn't accurate. Therefore it was important to watch a large sample size of plays to get as good an idea of what Moore can do as a player.

TFDS has been discussing the many changes in both personnel and coaching this offseason in an effort to prime Raiders fans for what to expect with the new team, both positive and negative.

Recently, we discussed the West Coast offense and how the Quarterback and Wide Receivers are likely to be used in the new scheme brought by Offensive Coordinator Dennis Allen.

Allen is not the only new coordinator, however. The Raiders Defensive unit will also be gettin a make-over with the addition of Jason Tarver.

If Al Davis loomed large over the decisions of the offensive coaches every Sunday - and he certainly did - his presence was much more noticable on the defensive side. Woe to the coordinator who strayed too far from Davis' preferred 4 man rush with man coverage on the outside.

Davis didn't outlaw blitzing or anything like that but he wasn't a big believer in them. If they worked, he would allow them but if they were not working the defensive coordinator had to understand Davis' displeasure with his choices.

With Mr. Davis' passing, so too passed the Raiders reliance on one single scheme. Tarver is likely to bring a much more varied approach to defense that will attempt to confuse and confound their opponents with disguised schemes and fronts.