Today the Raiders meet for the first time as a team since the season ended after week 17 last December.

The Raiders are one of the teams afforded the opportunity to meet this early because they have a new head coach in Dennis Allen.  The first meetings are when the coach explains to the players as a group how he will be running the team and starting to set expectations.

The offense will also be given OC Gregg Knapp's playbook to begin studying and learning the plays.  Raiders QB Carson Palmer has said in interviews that he has been studying Houston's offense from last season in order to learn how Knapp likes the offense to be run.

There is no concrete proof that Philip Wheeler became a Raider with a big assist from the Raider Nation, but there are little pieces that indicate that tweets from Raiders fans helped.

Wheeler mentioned on Twitter that he was headed to Oakland to meet with the Raiders.  It was the first team he actually mentioned on Twitter although he had met with the Dolphins 5 days before.

What followed was most likely a torrent of recruiting from the Raiders fans themselves via Twitter.  The torrent of support and Silver-and-Black pride certainly had an effect on Wheeler.

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.