Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Jason Campbell, barring any last minute Draft day declarations (and this IS the Raiders we’re writing about), should be the starting QB next season in Oakland. Owner Al Davis has made it clear he likes Campbell – and perhaps, in part, Campbell is an indirect reason that Tom Cable, who wasn’t as big a fan as his boss, is no longer coaching the squad – and new coach Hue Jackson is on board, as well.

The rest of the QB roster looks like this: Bruce Gradkowski, Charlie Frye, Kyle Boller and J.T. O’Sullivan. And considering, as the Contra Costa Times reports, Gradkowski – the best player of any of the backups – wasn’t offered a tender, it seems like his days in Oakland might be finished.

Last year, Gradkowski was tendered as a second-round player (meaning he was paid $1.8 million) and was considered insurance for JaMarcus Russell. Then, when Russell spectacularly flamed out, the Raiders acquired Campbell from Washington and named him the starter. But it didn’t take Gradkowski long to get playing time.

He replaced Campbell in the second half of the second game of the season, and for the rest of the year, the two went back and forth, as they battled injuries and, frankly, crappy QB play.

Once a new CBA is reached, Gradkowski could be offered a contract, but Jerry McDonald writes that it’s unlikely. A more likely scenario is that Frye will take over the backup spot and the team might try to sign a developmental quarterback who theoretically could be the team’s future.

Either way, Gradkowski has had success in this league. He deserves a chance to be what he ultimately believes he is: a starting quarterback.

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t Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Last June, we told you about Rod Woodson’s interest in coaching. He participated in an internship with the Bengals, and he seemed to enjoy impacting young players.

“I’ve got five kids, and I know the commitment coaches have to make,” Woodson told me last summer. “That’s a deterrent at times. But for me to impact the young players’ lives outside of football is huge. You don’t have to be an ex-player to be a good coach, but I like to see a lot of ex-players come back that can give something to the players outside of football.”

Now, he’s going to get his shot.

The Raiders announced today that new coach Hue Jackson has hired Woodson – who already lives in the area – as the team’s defensive backs coach. It’ll be interesting to see how Woodson, a Hall of Fame player, will adapt to relating to the current players in his new role.

More from my June interview with Woodson:

“When the coaches say one thing, players think another,” he said. “Sometimes you have to try to find an even keel. Hopefully, I can try to bridge that gap. I think I’ve been out of the game long enough to know what the coaches really want. I’m trying to tell them what it took for me to get to the next level. That doesn’t really change over the years.”

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Posted by Andy Benoit


Retaining Darren Sproles in 2011 could be tough for San Diego.


Titans wide receiver coach Fred Graves has joined the Panthers staff. Graves coached Steve Smith at Utah.


More Panthers assistant coach news: running back coach Jim Skipper, despite his catchy name, will not be brought back. .


Not surprisingly, Super Bowl winning teams tend to send more players to the Hall of Fame.


The NFLPA has issued a “Let Us Player” video over the internet.

A new offseason means the renewal of a Vincent Jackson to the Rams? discussion.


Andy Reid’s youngest son gave a verbal commitment to play football at Temple.


Hue Jackson has been referring to Al Davis as “Coach Davis”.


Bernard Berrian admits that the alleged extortion attempt was a distraction.


National Weather Service is advising Packer fans to wait until Wednesday to leave for Dallas.


The Onion has some fun with Carson Palmer and the Bengals.


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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Here are some Fisher follow-up thoughts:

-  Just got finished doing Toronto radio, and host Bryan Hayes asked me about what Fisher will do this year. The more I talked while answering the question, the more it made sense that Fisher will not work at all.

There’s absolutely no reason for him to go to Philadelphia as the Eagles defensive coordinator, and as Foxsports.com is reporting, Fisher is going to get $8 million in 2011 not to coach Tennessee (though the Tennessean's Jim Wyatt says that number is greatly exaggerated and that the real buyout is maybe half that). At this point, why not just play golf and let your money grow in a safe investment strategy? Take a year off to recharge the batteries and see what's available in 2012.

- How in demand is Fisher going to be in 2012? Let’s see, an experienced, well-respected head coach and a guy who’s taken his team to the Super Bowl. I’d say pretty in demand.

If this year was the year of coordinators getting head coaching jobs (Ron Rivera in Carolina, Pat Shurmur in Cleveland, Hue Jackson in Oakland), 2012 could be the return of coaching big-wigs (Fisher, Jon Gruden, maybe Bill Cowher).

For teams that will have coaches on the hot seat – I’m looking at you Miami, Cincinnati, Houston, Jacksonville and San Diego – they could have a nice roster of potential new hires (if they’re willing to shell out the money, of course).

- Some player reaction has begun to filter in, including this wonderful quote from DE Jason Babin, who was upset when defensive line coach Jim Washburn left and who sent Rapid Reporter Bob McClellan this text message from the Pro Bowl in Hawaii:

 “It broke my heart when ‘Wash(burn)’ left and now they just poured salt on it. I’m going to miss that mullet.”

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Posted by Will Brinson

Hue Jackson was introduced as the new head coach of the Raiders on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Yahoo! Sports' The Postgame published a lengthy report detailing Jackson's involvement with a company, S.W.A.T.S., that sells supplements and the NFL's subsequent (and recent) decision to order Jackson to end his involvement with the company.

Jackson, according to TPG, began endorsing "Sports With Alternatives To Steroids" back when he coached with the Baltimore Ravens in 2008 and 2009.

"In April of '08 I gave various alternatives to steroids, including spray, to Hue Jackson at the Ravens’ training camp," S.W.A.T.S. owner Mitch Ross said. "I also gave the spray to Jay Hayes of the Bengals and Anthony Lynn of the Jets. I want to prove that my protocol reverses the aging process on aging athletes and promotes the healing of injuries in a legal manner."

The "legal spray," known as "The Ultimate Spray" has something to do with deer antler velvet extract and, according to swatsteam.com, also contains "IGF-1," which is a banned substance by the NFL.

Considering that various players (Ray Lewis, most notably) reportedly received the spray, things could get a little hairy. (And not in the deer antler velvet kind of way, either.)

The NFL has confirmed that they ordered Jackson to end his affiliation with the company.

"We have a long-standing policy that prohibits coaches from any relationship with a supplement company," said NFL Director of Corporate Communications Brian McCarthy. "Coach Jackson is now in compliance."

And Jackson has confirmed that he's not involved with them either.

"I’m no longer affiliated with this company," Jackson told The Postgame. "I don’t even know about a banned substance."

There's no real need to confirm whether or not he was affiliated with the company, as a YouTube interview with "Hugh Jackson" indicates pretty clearly that he did a "chipping" testing with players like Lewis, Terrell Suggs, Ed Reed, LeRon McClain, Ray Rice and "Hugh Jackson"  followed by Jackson discussing the product with Ross pretty much says everything you need to know.

The YouTube, if these products contain banned substances, is particularly damning because Jackson mentions that he's been working with Ross for three years and that he "wants everyone" to get a hold of the product. (Although he does call them "very safe.")

It remains to be seen what the NFL will do with this information -- but the fact that S.W.A.T.S. is currently being sued by David Vobora, a linebacker for the Rams who tested positive for a banned substance after claiming to use the company's spray, certainly seems to indicate there's something worth that might be worth taking a closer look at.

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Posted by Will Brinson

The wait is over -- Hue Jackson has been named the new head coach of the Oakland Raiders on Monday night, the team announced. Jackson's now the sixth (!) head coach of the Bay-Area franchise since 2003.

Jackson's been expected to be named the head coach ever since Jan. 4, when the Raiders announced they wouldn't pick up Tom Cable's option. But things have progressed at a typical Raiders-style pace until it was finally reported by multiple outlets (Michael Smith of ESPN was first) that Jackson had been hired.

It appears that Al Davis finally made up his mind, however, and made a move (coincidentally one day after it was reported that he docked Cable, $120,000 during the 2010 season). Davis was lured to Jackson based primarily on Oakland's improvement on offense since Jackson took over last year -- after taking over the playcalling duties from Cable, Jackson helped the Raiders double their scoring output from 2009.

Al Saunders is the expected candidate to fill the role from which Jackson was promoted -- offensive coordinator -- and while the Raiders' lag time meant many people were scooped off the coaching-staff pile of names, Jackson's been calling around about forming a staff for a week or so.

More importantly, we can finally put our Coaching Hot Seat Tracker to rest (at least until next year) as every NFL team has filled the position.

Amazingly, as Tim Kawakami points out on Twitter, this is Al Davis' 11th consecutive head coaching hire that followed the pattern of alternating between offensive coordinator and offensive-line coach (Mike Shanahan was an OC, Art Shell was a line coach, Mike White - OC, Joe Bugel - OL, Jon Gruden - OC, Bill Callahan - OL, Norv Turner - OC, Art Shell - OL, Lane Kiffin - OC, Tom Cable - OL, Jackson - OC). That's a terrifying amount of predictability from such a kooky character.

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Posted by Will Brinson

Remember how weird it was when Tom Cable got fired by the Raiders? After all, 8-8 by the Bay and a sweep of the AFC West seemed like a pretty solid outing and worth Al Davis retaining his coach.

Well, things might have been weirder than anyone could imagine -- Adam Schefter of ESPN reported Sunday that Davis was systematically fining Cable throughout the season, and withholding $20,000 from Cable's paychecks, until the coach was docked a total of $120,000.

Cable, in turn, reportedly filed a grievance with the NFL (in season!) for the fines, which means that this dispute now goes in front of a Roger Goodell-appointed arbitrator.

It also means that as the Raiders are looking to hire a new head coach (and Hue Jackson all but appears to be the guy who'll get locked in), they'll be dealing with the off-field drama of a gigantic rift between Al Davis and the previous coach.

If this sounds familiar at all, well, it should -- Lane Kiffin, who Cable replaced, didn't exactly leave Oakland on friendly terms. And perhaps Kiffin's behavior post-Oaktown lent itself to the surprisingly reasonable logic that Al Davis might have been in the right during their feud; with grievances filed by the last two head coaches of the Raiders, though, there's only one common denominator -- the owner.

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Posted by Will Brinson

Hue Jackson is probably going to be the next Raiders coach. But, then again, it's the Raiders so there's no guarantee.

Which is what makes the report from Vittorio Tafur of the San Francisco Chroncile that Jackson's making calls around the league about possible assistant coaches somewhat mystifying.

For instance, it could mean that he's already locked in as the coach and that he's trying to get the best possible assistants to surround him. Or, it could mean that Al Davis is demanding another formal interview with Jackson (even though he presumably canned Tom Cable just to get Jackson) and wants to know what kind of staff he'll assemble.

Either way, there's a possibility that Rob Ryan, one-time defensive coordinator in Oakland, could end up landing back in his old stomping grounds with Jackson -- Tafur reports he's one of the possible candidates for the position.

If, you know, Jackson ends up getting the job.

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