Warren Sapp was lying on the
grass and watching his daughter play soccer
Saturday in South Florida when his cell phone
vibrated and knocked him out of his daze. A friend
on the other line wanted to talk football, and
after a few seconds it suddenly occurred to the
recently retired defensive tackle that this was a
reasonably significant afternoon.
“Oh, (expletive), it’s draft day!”
Sapp exclaimed. But after learning of the first seven
picks or so, he became disinterested in the subsequent
selections, explaining, “I don’t know any
of these (expletive) kids.” He wanted to know if
“my streak was alive” – since Sapp
went 12th overall to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1995,
at least one University of Miami player had gone in the
first round in each successive year – and sweated
it out until the New York Giants took former Hurricanes
safety Kenny Phillips with the 31st pick.
One other selection made Sapp smile. “I love
Darren McFadden to the Raiders,” he said Monday.
“I think it’s a perfect fit.”
I started to argue with Sapp, which isn’t
surprising – some of our arguments have literally
lasted years, and I almost stayed in exile in London
after getting a particularly salty text message last
October from the smart, funny and very, very large
defensive menace.
Citing what I perceive to be conventional wisdom, I
told Sapp that given Oakland’s run-stopping
struggles last season (it gave up 145.9 rushing yards
per game, the NFL’s second-worst figure) –
and the fact that Sapp, one of the league’s best
interior linemen of the modern era, just called it
quits – the Raiders would have been much better
served taking stud defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey than
adding another halfback. And Sapp, as he is prone to
doing, face-planted conventional wisdom like a
defenseless quarterback in the pocket.
“I understand that (coach) Lane Kiffin and
(offensive coordinator) Gregg Knapp are supposed to be
these guys who make their living by throwing the
ball,” Sapp said. “But our offense is made
for downhill guys. And this kid will make that offense
go.”
Sapp reminded me that, “after three games last
season, LaMont Jordan led the NFL in rushing. But
LaMont is like the worst offseason running back
I’ve ever been around; he was out of shape and
couldn’t keep it going. Then, remember late in
the season, Justin Fargas was slashing and cutting and
gaining all those yards? (McFadden) is the same guy,
but he’s faster. I promise you, this guy will hit
those holes and take it to the house, and then our
offensive line will slash people up.”
None of that addressed the fact that the Raiders’
defense, particularly when it comes to stopping the
run, has serious problems. Sapp didn’t argue that
point – the basic problem, he said, is that owner
Al Davis has put together “a team with 3-4
personnel, but they’re running a 4-3
system.” Sapp insisted that a sound, two-gap
approach would be more effective than the macho,
one-gap system employed by defensive coordinator Rob
Ryan. Given that Ryan managed to avoid getting
pink-slipped and is back for another season, this is
not likely to change in ‘08.
All of which brings us back to embattled second-year
coach Lane Kiffin.
When Davis made Kiffin the league’s youngest
coach following the 2006 season, he was counting on the
former USC assistant bringing a fresh and innovative
offensive approach to a team that, in one miserable
season under coach Art Shell and coordinator Tom Walsh,
had set offense back a half-century. To demonstrate his
commitment, the owner took a freakishly gifted
quarterback, JaMarcus Russell, with the No. 1 overall
pick of the 2007 draft – though Davis
didn’t bother to get him signed until after the
start of the regular season, essentially washing out
Russell’s rookie campaign.
Things went poorly enough that Kiffin nearly lost his
job at season’s end, surviving only because his
boss was too cheap to buy out the remaining two years
of his contract. The owner made a stand on Ryan,
resisting Kiffin’s attempt to bring in a new
defensive coordinator, and seemed to be doing his best
to force Kiffin to resign.
It has since become clear that Davis is stuck with
Kiffin for at least another season. But here’s
the weird thing: By signing talented deep threat Javon
Walker to a reported six-year, $55-million contract in
March and by drafting McFadden fourth overall Saturday,
Davis has given Kiffin a golden opportunity to prove
him wrong.
If Kiffin can get the Raiders’ offense humming it
will, at the very least, set him up nicely for his next
job. If it can hum enough to overcome a seriously
flawed defense more often than not, he and Davis may
actually be able to coexist while crafting a strained
but mutually beneficial partnership.
I don’t know if I’m completely on board
with this line of thinking – the
franchise’s inherent dysfunction always seems to
surface at inopportune times – but I guess
it’s possible that the drafting of McFadden could
be the best thing to happen to Kiffin’s career.
“There is nothing wrong with Lane Kiffin’s
offensive system,” Sapp insisted. “There is
nothing wrong with Lane Kiffin as a head coach, and now
he has another stud who can help him succeed. I guess
Al’s going for his last hurrah.”
As bizarre as it seems, this just might work.
(yahoosports.com)