It has been said that the Raiders intend to transition to a West Coast style offense under offensive coordinator Greg Knapp.  There are a lot of questions about what the offense will look like.  TFDS is doing our best to answer questions on the offense – first by looking at Knapp's tendencies as an offensive coordinator for the Seahawks in 2009 and then looking at Houston's offense last season.  Knapp was the QB coach in Houston in 2010 and 2011.

Now, we will be talking about West Coast offense (WCO) philosophies and tendencies as a primer to discussing personnel fits with the Raiders.


                                                                                                                            A page from Walsh's 1985 49ers playbook

After letting this week's OTA session and other moves permeate a bit, I thought I'd weigh in on some thoughts about the recent actions of the team and performance of the players.  If you'd like a recap of what happened, a good one is here.

Player moves:

The team added QB Kyle Newhall-Caballero, an undrafted free agent from Brown.  Newhall-Caballero is 6'3", 214 lbs.  He threw during the media session on Tuesday and showed a good arm.

Even so, he'd have to really blow the team away to make the squad.  Instead, he's likely playing for the practice squad as the scout team QB.

Head coach Allen indirectly confirmed that he's a long shot to make the team saying, "That was the plan all along, to bring in a 4th quarterback. We wanted to bring 4 to camp, to make sure we did have 4 arms and I think Kyle will do a nice job there."

Newhall-Caballero has selected to wear number 10.

My informal count of the squad is that the Raiders are currently carrying 87 players.  They are allowed up to 90 players.

OTA notes:

Because there is no contact in the practice sessions, most of the more interesting OTA bits come from the interviews afterwards, especially with coach Allen.

In his interview he weighed in on a lot of different topics.  Here were some of the more interesting topics for your consumption:

This off-season the Raiders traded for former Carolina Panther's RB Mike Goodson in a rare player for player trade, giving up the rights to OL Bruce Campbell for Goodson.

Goodson had hardly any opportunities in Carolina, being buried on the depth chart. In fact, during the 2011 season he did not carry the ball once. His only stat for 2011 was a reception that gained 4 yards.

In 2010, Goodson was able to help his team much more. He played in all 16 games that season and started 3 when both DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart were out with injury.

It was to those games in which he was a starter that I turned for his film review because it gave me the best idea of how he would hold up over a game and how complete a back he was.

Specifically, I looked at Weeks 10 and 11 of the 2010 season, with Carolina facing off against Tampa Bay and Baltimore, respectively.

I took a couple of week sabbatical to catch up on life but the world of football keeps churning.  I wanted to weigh in on some of the recent actions, etc, taken by the Raiders in the meantime.

Transactions:
-Signing of Matt Leinart – those who follow this site consistently know that I felt that Pryor was unlikely to be ready for the primary backup spot.  If he is, that's icing on the cake.  If not, Leinart can be a functional backup.  

Leinart has not met his top 10 draft status but hasn't been as bad as many believe.  He was beat out by Kurt Warner, who played at a very high level in his time in AZ and moved to Houston as a backup.  The Houston coaching staff was very confident in him last season when starter Matt Schaub was injured but he, also, was injured, suffering a shoulder injury almost immediately in his first game. 

However, the Raiders new offensive coaching staff has familiarity with him and he will be familiar with the protection schemes of the Raiders.  He also is comfortable with Palmer having been behind him when they were both at USC.

The Raiders first minicamp, for rookies only, starts tomorrow.  This got me wondering how many positions look likely taken by veterans and how many would be based upon competition in training camp.

The lists below were generated based on salary, previous production, my own opinions of play and, sometimes, just a gut feeling.  They are in no way scientific.

I only included 3rd and 4th round draft picks in the extremely likely because it's no lock that all of the 6 draft picks will make the roster, but it is extremely likely that the 3rd and 4th round selections will.

Also, it's almost certainly a given that some of the players on this list will get injured in camp which will open up some positions, potentially.  There are always surprise cuts each year, as well.

Take a look and let me know what you think - either in the comments or on Twitter

Today, TFDS' featured interview is with newly signed Raiders punter Marquette King.  King is from Fort Valley State University, a historically black Division II college located in Fort Valley GA.  King is listed as 6'1, 192 lbs. 
He has long been regarded as one of the best punters in Division II and has drawn comparisons to current Raiders punter Shane Lechler for his ability to boom accurate punts that were both high and long, obviously a very desirable trait.

King has been able to punt 75 yards down the field with the ball in the air and also has recorded 5.6 second hang times, both very impressive numbers.

You can follow him on Twitter @MarquetteKing

Interview:
Q: What is your home town/state?

King: My Hometown is Macon, Ga



Q: Did you root for a particular NFL team growing up? Who? Why?

King: Not really, I just had favorite players that I would hope do well in games.

Today's interview is with former Penn State cornerback Chaz Powell, signed to a contract as an undrafted free agent shortly after the draft ended.  Powell measured in at the combine at 6' even and 203 lbs.  He came in Penn State having played on both sides of the ball in high school and amassing impressive statistics on both sides including a team high 1,190 rushing yds with 16 TDs, an additional 400 receiving yds, 3 Ints with one returned for a TD.  He had 16 blocked field goals and punts.

He was redshirted in 2007 as a Freshman at PSU.  He was put in as a WR for both 2008 and 2009 and then moved to CB in 2010.  He played on special teams and started some games at CB.  He was the teams kickoff specialist.

In 2011 he continued to play both on defense and special teams.  He had 27 kickoff returns, averaging 27.1 yards per return with one TD.  He played in all 13 games and logged two INTs (fellow Penn State and current Raider Nate Stupar also had 2 INTs, I see), 41 total tackles and 9 passes defended.

For the Raiders he would provide depth at defensive back and compete to be a returner on Special Teams.

You can follow him on Twitter @CPowell02

Interview:

Q: What is your home town/state?

Powell: I'm from New Freedom, PA, which is a small town about 5 minutes from the
Maryland line.