Warren Sapp DT sees McFadden as good fit

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)