This article is the work of Jérôme Moreau.  You can follow him on Twitter @HuggyJrme to see more of his thoughts on the Raiders and what players would be the best fit.

Raiders - Specific Mock Draft

The Raiders continued their solid, if unspectacular, offseason yesterday by making two moves that will pay big dividends for the team in the next year.

Specifically, the Raiders traded for former Panthers RB Mike Goodson and signed FA LB Philip Wheeler who had visited the team earlier in the week.

Both this site and I have been very supportive of the Raiders offseason, by and large, to this point.  This site has supported most of the cuts and the signings.  We understand why McKenzie had to cut who he did and mostly understand why he made the moves he did.

What I'm unable to understand is the lack of action on a backup quarterback to date.  To my mind, this is the biggest failing thus for for the current regime. 

A backup quarterback is a very important part of the team - just look to what happened to the Raiders last year when they were faced with Kyle Boller leading the team for the rest of the season, before trading for Palmer.

Former Colts LB Philip Wheeler visited the Raiders today for a workout.  He is a 4 year veteran and former 3rd round pick by Indianapolis.  He has played in 61 games and started 24 including starting 11 last season for Indianapolis.

Wheeler is 27 years old and is listed as being 6'2" and 245 lbs.  He played mostly weakside linebacker which was Raiders' Aaron Curry's position last year but it's likely he could fit in at strongside for the Raiders.  He does have good quickness to play against a TE and did show some blizting abilities in college at Georgia Tech.

If signed, Wheeler fits what the Raiders are doing this offseason which is to find players that have good upside and can contribute as a role player without being too expensive.

According to Raiders beat writer Vittorio Tafur, respected website Pro Football Focus rated Wheeler 12th among all outside linebackers last season.

Wheeler has already met with Miami on 3/23/12.  That he hasn't accepted a contract from them by now either means one hasn't been extended or he wasn't happy with the terms.  He did mention in a tweet that he was considering taking his talents to South Beach which likely means that an offer was made, it just didn't blow him away.

Wheeler started 11 games last season and played in 13 total.  He had 84 total tackles, 1 sack and 1 forced fumble in 2011.

For the Raiders only S Tyvon Branch (109) and MLB Rolando McClain (99) had more than Wheeler's 84 tackles last season.

For Raiders news and analysis throughout the day or to ask me questions or tell me what you think, follow me on Twitter @AsherMathews

All eyes in the NFL world have turned to Florida this week for the annual NFL Owner's Meeting which started Monday.  There are many things that come out from the meeting. 

This year's compensatory picks were announced on Monday and there is also information on what rules changes the Competition Committee considered, here.

The owners also finalized and approved the penalties imposed upon Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins for dumping contract money into the uncapped year in 2010.

This article is the work of Tyler Dickson, who is an avid follower of college football and a Raiders fan.  You can follow him on Twitter @raiderdraftnik for his thoughts on players as we lead up to the draft.

UPDATED 4/4/2012: Some player movements as draft workouts and further film review move the field.

For many years, there has been a vocal contingent of Raiders fans that clamored for recognition that the league was anti-Raiders.  If the schedule seemed less favorable, if the league awarded fewer prime time games - whatever the situation - there were individuals that claimed that the league didn't like the Raiders, never had.

I'm not a subscriber to this theory and if the league gifts the Raiders as kindly as it did today, no one in the future will be able to claim the league dislikes the Raiders - or, at least, not claim it and be taken seriously.

The league announced the compensatory picks for the 2012 draft today.  The picks, which are derived from a proprietary formula that the league keeps a secret, are designed to compensate teams that suffer a net loss in the number of quality of their free agents.