Last week, I laid out the different quarterbacks the Raiders could draft. The three primary players were those of whom the Raiders had for visits– Tim Tebow, Jimmy Clausen, and Mike Kafka.
I also suggested that Tebow and Clausen were smokescreens for the Raiders intentions in regards to grabbing Kafka. And Cable confirmed that the Raiders had no intention of drafting Clausen. Well, at Cable’s post second day draft press conference I heard something that hinted at the selection of Kafka yet again.
Here is what he said:
“The East-West Game, they’re really kind of where you find kids that maybe didn’t get to the Senior Bowl and everybody kind of classifies that as THE game. But they’re there, and they’re competing against other really good players, and you look at the number of players coming out of both those games, the Texas-Nation Game, the East-West Game, they’re getting drafted, it’s high, high numbers.”
When he said those words, he was responding to a question about how the Raiders were able to get a good view of their round 3 pick, OT Jared Veldheer out of little heralded Division 2 Hillsdale.
But, in case you didn’t know it already, Mike Kafka played in the 2010 East-West Shrine Game, where he Completed 18-of-27 passes for 150 yards and a TD in the game to lead the East Team to a 13-10 come-from-behind victory . He would be named the game’s Offensive MVP.
This following a stellar season, completing about 65 percent of his passes for 3,430 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also ran for 299 yards and eight scores. His play earned him second-team All-Big Ten honors and put him on the draft map.
And his footage in theShrine gameis pretty impressive. Take a look:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=
o_byjZwpFh0[/youtube]
You may also notice another player that looks pretty good in those clips. A player whose hands remind me of Raider great, Fred Biletnikoff. That player i am referring to is wide receiver Freddie Barnes out of Bowling Green. Barnes just happens to have accumulated an NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision record 155 receptions for 1,770 yards last season. Everything sticks to this guy’s hands. And unlike the HOF Freddie B, there was no “Stick-um” anywhere in sight.
Standing at just 6 foot, with hands like that, and a knack for getting open, he would be the ideal choice to fill the Raiders uncertain slot receiver position.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=
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If ever there were a couple of players the Raiders should grab in this draft, it is these two. And since we know, Tom Cable was paying close attention to the players in that Shrine game, there is a good chance that we could see one (or both) of them in a Raider uniform.
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