Race on to sign undrafted free agents
By Steve Corkran
Saturday, April 28th, 2012 at 5:23 pm in Oakland Raiders.
Once the seven-round NFL draft ends, teams kick into overdrive in an attempt to sign undrafted players. The Raiders apparently hit the ground running.
Already, six players reportedly have been signed by the Raiders since the draft ended. Here’s the list, which has not been confirmed by the Raiders:
Wisconsin safety Aaron Henry, Fort Valley State punter Marquette King, Beloit wide receiver Derek Carrier, Pittsburgh defensive end Brandon Lindsey, Pittsburgh defensive lineman Lucas Nix and Missouri defensive lineman Dominique Hamilton.
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April 28th, 2012 at 5:24 pm
1st!
April 28th, 2012 at 5:24 pm
yea wow.
Henry is a great signing. our safety positions seems very set at this point. could be wrong.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:25 pm
where’d Fangupu go?!
April 28th, 2012 at 5:25 pm
PurpleDrank81 Says:
April 28th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
I always feel like me and Y/A are on the same page… Long Lost Brothers????
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Clearly!
April 28th, 2012 at 5:26 pm
Plz sign Vontaze Burfict!!!! Plz!!!
April 28th, 2012 at 5:26 pm
More on Derek Carrier:
He is 6-foot-3, 240 pounds and ran a 4.49 40-yard dash. He has a 40-inch vertical jump and did a three-cone run in 6.69 seconds, which is off the charts.
Most important, Carrier has shown he can produce. He had 75 catches and l12 touchdowns last season. The only knock on this specimen is the level of competition he has faced.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:27 pm
For romac, i dont think reggie gives a damn about his draft status. Hes toast if he doesnt produce this yr.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:28 pm
MLB is the Qb of the defense. There’s no comparison to WR. Even female football fans are aware of this.
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Seymour Bush Says:
April 28th, 2012 at 5:25 pm
WR’s normally take longer to develop ass wipe. Jamista Clown is soooooo stupid his shopping cart is smarter than he is.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:28 pm
Aig-Raiders Says:
April 28th, 2012 at 5:27 pm
For romac, i dont think reggie gives a damn about his draft status. Hes toast if he doesnt produce this yr.
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Exactly. If Reggie could find some dude living under the same bridge as Jamista Clown that could play the position it would be bye bye Rolando.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:28 pm
YA, good info. looks good on youtube. haha! everyone does against that level of competition though in any position, ala MM33 lol
April 28th, 2012 at 5:29 pm
oh snap. sike that’s the wrong guy. wow. can’t find tape on Carrier.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:29 pm
MistaBrown Says:
April 28th, 2012 at 5:28 pm
MLB is the Qb of the defense. There’s no comparison to WR. Even female football fans are aware of this.
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Not quite the same. Even female football fans know this.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Ravens got Jean-Baptiste, but Hamilton might be a stronger prospect for the kind of front the Raiders intend to run.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
I would have taken Aaron Henry in the 6th so none the less im super juiced rite now
April 28th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Carrier won’t be a WR but a TE, he’s the Aaron Hernandez type.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Gotta give RM credit. Did pretty good with what he had as far as picks go and already took care of several UFA’s. Plus M. Leinart may be on board soon. I like how he’s handling his business so far…
April 28th, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Burfict Heading to………..The Bengals
April 28th, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Burfict to the Bengals.
Burfict fit.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Henry’s highlights are very telling. he has good ball instincts and a hard hitter. more than i can say about MM
April 28th, 2012 at 5:32 pm
Reggie himself earned the starting lb spot on a team stacked with hofs……reggie was a 10th rounder
April 28th, 2012 at 5:32 pm
of course Bengals grab a problem child. its their MO. how many rings do they have again?
April 28th, 2012 at 5:32 pm
great point Aig
April 28th, 2012 at 5:33 pm
“The Raiders apparently hit the ground running.
Already, six players reportedly have been signed by the Raiders since the draft ended.”
Reggie must have been on the batphone to kiff at USC to find out who all the good players were.
Looks like he a quick learner
April 28th, 2012 at 5:33 pm
RaiderSam,
McClain won’t turn anything around including his jelly roll as he hits the turf after cartwheeling through the air as an RB blows by him.
Read up on his negatives before he was drafted; it all came true. He may have some physical skills but his attitude is horrible and his IQ around 60. And Coach Sabin be damned.
There is nothing there: 0 + 0 = 0. What didn’t exist can’t be turned around.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:33 pm
i do feel very comfortable with Leinart backing up Palmer. knows this system. Pryor will get there, give him another 2 years.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:33 pm
Lance Lewis to the Raiders
April 28th, 2012 at 5:33 pm
An article on Derek Carrier:
“Every year, small-school players across the United States begin what for most is the impossible climb to the National Football League.
The vast majority never even make it to first base: that is, obtaining and passing a legitimate evaluation.
Already safe at first, Beloit College’s Derek Carrier has taken a sizable lead and is heading for second: namely, signing an NFL contract.
Beloit, a private liberal arts institution that has been in existence since 1846, has had only two players drafted into pro football even though it has fielded teams for more than a century.
They were Jack Erickson, a tackle selected in the seventh round by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1953, and Rod Hermes, a quarterback who went in the 30th and final round in 1956 to the Green Bay Packers. Neither made it.
Carrier, 6 feet 3½ inches and 238 pounds, rewrote the Beloit record book as a wide receiver over the last four seasons. His accomplishments against Midwest Conference defenses, however, mean little in the scouting process.
The intrigue with Carrier among some NFL teams stems largely from the success the New England Patriots have had the past two years with Aaron Hernandez, a tight end who functions mostly as a slot, split or out-of-backfield receiver.
“A lot of other teams want to find their own Hernandez or their own (Rob) Gronkowski,” Carrier said last week.
“A guy who can split out and create a lot of mismatches. It kind of becomes the hot commodity for that draft.”
Carrier, an inch taller, and Hernandez weigh almost the same.
But when comparing Carrier in six speed, athletic and strengths tests from March 7 at the University of Wisconsin pro day to Hernandez’s combine workout in February 2010, Carrier was better in everything but the bench press.
Good score
Not only that but Carrier, who carries a 3.87-grade point average in pre-med and will graduate May 12, more than doubled Hernandez’s score on the Wonderlic intelligence test.
“It wasn’t just a good workout – he had a great workout,” a personnel man for an AFC team said.
“I’ve watched a little film of him. Beloit. . . isn’t that Division III? But I think somebody will take a shot in the sixth or seventh (rounds). Maybe somebody takes him higher. He’s a big kid and he ran awfully well.”
Since that workout, agent Ron Slavin of Madison has fulfilled requests from all 32 teams for game tape of his client. Carrier spent a day last week in Seattle visiting with Seahawks’ officials, and on Monday departs for a visit with the Oakland Raiders.
Earlier, the Patriots dispatched Chad O’Shea, their receivers coach, to work him out at Beloit’s 3,000-seat Strong Stadium, where fewer than 500 attended the 2-8 Buccaneers’ final two home games.
In the last year, Carrier estimated he has met in Beloit with scouts from all but three or four clubs.
“If someone would have told me four years ago that this would be happening I’d probably call them a liar,” said Carrier. “It’s just been an amazing experience.”
Carrier wasn’t among the hundreds of prospects who left school in January for exhaustive training and coaching on their agents’ dime at any number of high-tech facilities down south. He maintained his quarters at the Sigma Chi fraternity and worked out on his own.
Help from Bulls
Last summer, Carrier spent a three-month internship with the Chicago Bulls’ strength coaches. They wrote him a training program, which Carrier has followed assiduously.
His present six-day-a-week workout routine is not new for Carrier. Growing up in nearby Edgerton, he lived for whatever sport was in season.
For his high school Crimson Tide, Carrier was a three-year starter in basketball and baseball (center field) and a two-year starter in football. He remembers vividly a heartbreaking regional loss to the Monroe Cheesemakers in his last basketball game.
“A lot of these schools kind of discourage multisport athletes,” he said. “I think that’s something you should encourage. The need to specialize kind of takes away from the experience.”
The Badgers offered Carrier a berth as a preferred walk-on, but he finally decided he just couldn’t walk away from basketball. Carrier considered UW-Whitewater, but basketball coach Pat Miller said the Warhawks discouraged playing two sports for competitive and scheduling reasons.
When the football and basketball coaches at Beloit called to say they’d accommodate his two-sport desires, he became a Buccaneer.
In two seasons of basketball, Carrier started 21 games and averaged 8.3 points. With NFL scouts beginning to call in spring 2010, Carrier decided he couldn’t commit fully to a third year of basketball and reluctantly gave it up.
Trying track
Still, he wasn’t ready to become a one-sport man just yet. A year ago, he participated in track and field for the first time in his life and spent two months doing just about everything for Beloit’s indoor team. He ran 6.68 seconds in the 55 meters besides having a long jump of 21 feet 5 inches and a triple jump of 43-4.
“It was just a blast,” said Carrier. “It was all new. It was exciting.”
By most accounts, Carrier will either be drafted or signed as a free agent. Among other things, he can look forward to being called something like “Beloit” by less-than-impressed new teammates.
Curious about the scouting buzz surrounding Carrier, an NFL personnel man watched 2½ games of Beloit football during a break in draft meetings last week.
“He’s out wide and catches a screen pass, and this little itty-bitty corner comes up on him and the kid (Carrier) runs out of bounds,” the scout said Saturday. “Makes no attempt to run him over or use a stiff-arm. Or anything. I lost interest on one play.
“I’m sure he’s a great kid, but at that level they really don’t know what they don’t know. You’re looking at a very raw lump of clay. He’ll take a long time to develop even if he takes the bit the first year.”
Reaching third base would be making an NFL roster. Having a long, successful career would be hitting a home run.
“If I had to describe myself in a few words I’d say determined and hardworking,” Carrier said as he prepared for another day in the weight room and gym. “Obviously, with the numbers athletically, I can succeed. I don’t see it as being anything I can’t handle.”
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Nice pickup.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Lincoln Riley @LincolnRiley
Lance Lewis to the Raiders!!!!
Retweeted by Paul Gutierrez
April 28th, 2012 at 5:35 pm
The division is going to be really tough. Can’t afford to lose any impact player to injury.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:36 pm
McClain is going nowhere smh.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Kellen Moore lands with__________________ Detroit
April 28th, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Mista Brown,
So MLBs are the Captains of the Defense? So what ? McClain is not even qualified to h4 Captain of the “thugs in the ghetto”. He got caught so quickly in Alabama, such stupidity to jeopardize a $40M contract f’ing around like that.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
another good signing. Lance Lewis… jjjjeah keep it BigMac!
April 28th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
So apparently Lindsey went to the Steelers instead. Oh well.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Pedro Moura @PedroMoura
USC receiver Brandon Carswell texts he has agreed to an undrafted free agent deal with the Oakland Raiders
April 28th, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Nate Stupar posts himself as “thenastyNate” on twitter.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:42 pm
Chaz Powell Just Signed
April 28th, 2012 at 5:43 pm
Chaz Powell another Penn State Guy
April 28th, 2012 at 5:44 pm
Conroy Black, too. Nice.
April 28th, 2012 at 5:44 pm
Really Conroy Black???? Very Nice….Reggie Mac showing some skill rite now
April 28th, 2012 at 5:49 pm
What scares me is the lack of depth at corner. What if Bartell hasnt fully recovered and Checkwa get’s hurt again we’re left with Spencer and DVD. I still have nightmares of Drew Brees and others torching DVD up and down the field. Understand there wasnt much depth in the CB position but we have to add some depth in the secondary
April 28th, 2012 at 5:50 pm
*CB-didnt have much depth in the draft
April 28th, 2012 at 5:52 pm
Agreed w #30.
McClain played on a bad knee AND ankle instead of sitting it out!!!
April 28th, 2012 at 6:01 pm
Autumn Rising Says:
April 28th, 2012 at 5:49 pm
What scares me is the lack of depth at corner. What if Bartell hasnt fully recovered and Checkwa get’s hurt again we’re left with Spencer and DVD. I still have nightmares of Drew Brees and others torching DVD up and down the field. Understand there wasnt much depth in the CB position but we have to add some depth in the secondary
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Yeah, passing on CB Alfonso Dennard might be a little questionable…..
April 28th, 2012 at 6:09 pm
McClain has arthritis … that problem isn’t going away anytime soon. i just worry about it as he develops with a defensive minded HC. i believe he’ll get better, as long as that ankle and knee hold up.
April 28th, 2012 at 6:46 pm
Oakland Raiders
Marqutte King, P, Fort Valley State
Aaron Henry, S, Wisconsin
Dominique Hamilton, DT, Missouri
Chaz Powell, CB, Penn State
Thomas Mayo, WR, Cal (Pa)
May 3rd, 2012 at 9:04 pm
we need to sign terrell owens and we will be instant contenenders