Chris Fiala | Sports Editor
fialac@imail.losrios.edu
The Oakland Raiders looked to have a good pick at number seven overall as the NFL draft approached.
As the picks before them went by, it looked more and more likely the Raiders were going to be able to draft super-freak wideout Michael Crabtree from Texas Tech, the best wide receiver in the draft according to just about everyone.
Of course, Crabtree had some questions. He did not participate in the scouting combine for rookies before the draft because of a broken foot that required surgery. He was in a boot until about a month before the season. But at Texas Tech, Crabtree won the Biletnikoff Award for best receiver in college football twice, and has undeniable talent.
However, the always questionable owner of the Raiders, Al Davis, had another idea. He did draft a wide receiver, and it wasn’t even the second best receiver – Missouri’s Jeremy Maclin. He went and drafted speedster Darius Heyward-Bey. Heyward-Bey ran the fastest 40-yard dash time at the combine, with a time of 4.25 seconds. I must admit that is faster than I could run 40 yards, but that is beside the point.
Heyward-Bey played for a run happy Maryland team and had only one 100-yard receiving game, and only totaled 2,089 yards receiving in three seasons at Maryland, as opposed to Crabtree’s 3,127 yards in two years at Texas Tech.
I mean, all stats aside Crabtree is a bigger, more athletic, more fine tuned wideout than Hayward-Bey is. He is a better model for a successful NFL wide receiver and just more of a safe bet. But yet again Al Davis let down his fans, his team and maybe even himself with his head-scratcher of a pick.
He went with speed versus overall talent, and who knows how it will turn out this time. Raider fans can only keep their fingers crossed that this pick won’t turn out like previous first round choices, like Fabian Washington and Robert Gallery, who never lived up to their hype.
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