RAIDERS SEE NO SEYMOUR

Richard Seymour, who was perfectly happy to play for the Patriots, has yet to show up for the Oakland Raiders. Seymour, according to Rodney Harrison, might sit-out of Raiders camp/practice, insisting that the Raiders agree not to franchise him in 2010.

This deal made no sense for Oakland, and only goes to show how awful that organization is. Why give up a 1st round pick to rent a player for 1 year, or even 2 years if they intended to franchise him? Does Al Davis still think that people WANT to play for the Raiders?



I do feel bad for Seymour, who goes from anticipating a season full of meaningful games, playing alongside great players, and hopefully going deep into the postseason. Now what does he have to look forward to? It's pretty sad that the best part of playing for the Raiders is living in the shithole that is Oakland.

And to people here in New England who still don't understand this deal, the Patriots are sacrificing 1 season of Seymour for a 1st round pick. If you think the Patriots will actually select someone with this 1st round pick, then you haven't been paying attention for the last 8 years.

But the Pats actually might take someone with a top 10 or even top 5 pick in 2011. There's potentially going to be a cap on rookie pay starting in 2011, which makes selecting early much more desirable.

The critics of this deal will point out how much of a crapshoot the draft can be. And they're right. You get a lot of clunkers in the draft, in every round. You also get some studs that can change teams. Examples of game-changing top 10 picks:

2008: QB Matt Ryan, LB Jerod Mayo
2007: OT Joe Thomas, RB Adrian Peterson
2006: DE Mario Williams
2005: RB Ronnie Brown
2004: QB Eli Manning, WR Larry Fitzgerald, QB Philip Rivers, WR Roy Williams, CB DeAngelo Hall
2003: QB Carson Palmer, WR Andre Johnson, LB Terrell Suggs
2002: DE Julius Peppers, S Roy Williams
2001: RB LaDanian Tomlinson, DE Richard Seymour



After this season, either Seymour or Wilfork were going to go. I prefer Wilfork. Think, if the Pats had sent Wilfork to Oakland, would it still be possible to utilize the 3-4 defense? Nope.

There was an opportunity to get an early 1st round pick, which could be turned into a late 1st round pick plus a 3rd round pick. Or it could be a pair of 2nd round picks. Or the pick could packaged with others and be traded for a stud runningback.

Draft picks are currency to the Patriots, and they just cashed in big-time for a player who was leaving after the season anyway.

Sources:
ESPN.com
USA Today