The Silence is Broken
It sure took him a while didn't it?
Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin finally spoke to the media on Tuesday at the NFL owners meeting in Florida.
Babyface Lane broke his silence and sounded enthusiastic about his job as the Raiders' sideline boss.
The 32-year-old head coach gave reporters an insight on how working for Al Davis is working out, the Rob Ryan situation and he gave a few tidbits on the draft. He also answered questions in regard to the Raiders' spending spree and the new influx of talent over the past month.
Bay Area News Group's Jerry McDonald, via stringer Walter Villa, has the nitty gritty, if you want to check it out go to: http://www.ibabuzz.com/raidersblog/2008/04/01/more-kiffin/
Kiffin seems to ease some of the apparent tension that has surrounded him and the organization as a whole and it was interesting to read what he had to say. Surprisingly enough though, is the fact Big Al himself wasn't in attendance. Instead, Kiffin was left to speak to the media all by his lonesome. Well, that's not fair, he had a Raider PR rep sitting beside him the whole way through.
While the Al Davis relationship and the Rob Ryan situation may catch the eye first, it was his perception and take on the upcoming NFL Draft that is of upmost interest.
Here's an excerpt from McDonald's blog:
On the draft: “We don’t have a lot of picks. We have the No. 4 choice overall, which is significant. We could trade down, obviously. We’d love to continue to work on our defensive line. There are a couple of really good defensive lineman that may be available at 4.”
On mock drafts that have the Raiders picking Arkansas running back Darren McFadden at No. 4: “He is a phenomenal player, but I don’t really think running back is a need for us.”
On whether Kiffin will have an impact on who the Raiders draft: “I hope so. I wouldn’t expect it to be any different than last year.”
While many NFL analyst and draft pundits, including myself, have speculated Oakland would draft Arkansas running back Darren McFadden with the No. 4 overall selection, it appears, if Kiffin has any say on the matter, the Raiders may steer in another direction.
Granted, this may just be a smoke screen, teams are notoriously known to guise their true intentions leading up to the draft, Kiffin seems steadfast in his belief that DMC is not their guy at No. 4.
Kiffin even brought up the notion of trading down, something Davis is not particularly found of, in order to gain some of the picks they lost due to trades.
It is still unclear how much influence Kiffin truly has in the draft process, but there has always been a consistent factor when it comes to the event: It's Al's decision, no matter how you slice it ... or is it?
Davis blamed former coach Art Shell for passing up on QB Matt Leinart in favor of safety Michael Huff ... but honestly, who believes Al wasn't the one pulling the trigger?
Anyhow, it appears Kiffin is looking forward to his second year as the Raiders head coach and is dead set on holding his ground against Oakland's true figure head Al Davis.
2008 just got a little more interesting for the Silver and Black.