Third in a series of concerns regarding the makeup of the 2008 Raiders with the reporting date approaching on July 24 at the Napa Marriott:

During a practice during the Raiders’ mandatory minicamp, Terdell Sands could be found with one arm propped up against the hydraulic lift, gasping for breath during a team session.

The temperature was in the 70s _ a beautiful Alameda day _ and players are not allowed to wear full gear or engage in scrimmage-style contact.

Tommy Kelly, meanwhile, was hanging out with his defensive line mates, watching them go through drills as he continues to rehab the torn ACL which halted his season after seven weeks last season.

Since it was only June, it was no cause for major alarm, but it’s fair to question whether the Raiders’ attempts to stop the run in 2007 have a solid foundation.

The Raiders made big investments in both men to make sure they didn’t reach free agency. Sands, after a promising 2006 season, got a four-year contract and a $4 million signing bonus even though he wasn’t a fulltime player.

Kelly’s deal _ with $18.125 in guaranteed money _ caused jaws to drop around the league, in part because he has not yet proven he is an elite player and because of the ACL tear.

His contract was comparable to the extension Tommie Harris signed with the Chicago Bears. Harris was coming off an eight-sack season and a trip to the Pro Bowl. Kelly had one sack before going down with an ACL tear.

The Raiders are convinced Kelly’s move from end to the three-technique spot vacated by Warren Sapp will make him a premiere defender. Coach Lane Kiffin contends moving Kelly to various positions across the line hasn’t enabled him to settle in and become a dominant player.

Kelly will be watched very closely and be compared on a weekly basis with Glenn Dorsey of the Chiefs, for one of the reasons the Raiders passed on Dorsey was their commitment to Kelly.

On the surface, assuming Kelly’s knee rehab is going as planned, he would seem to be an upgrade over Sapp with regard to the Raiders’ biggest defensive weakness.

You’re probably as tired of reading the numbers as I am writing them, but the inability of the Raiders to stop the run was their biggest problem last season. Only Miami gave up more yards per game than Oakland’s average of 145.9. No one had a worse average per carry than their 4.8.

Oakland gave up 100 yards rushing to 10 different running backs, and while defensive coordinator Rob Ryan would like to think the stats were skewed by big runs, the fact is the Raiders were gouged on steady 4- to 5-yard gains as well.

Sapp was of little help against the run, doing as he has always done _ shooting the gap and attempting to destroy blocking schemes, even at the expense of a runner going past him. It’s the same thing that made him a probable Hall of Fame player in Tampa, where Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin devised a scheme which allowed him to do what he did best.

The Bucs were able to protect him with linebackers that fit into gaps and a hard-hitting safety named John Lynch. Raiders linebackers Kirk Morrison and Thomas Howard, while two of the best pass defending linebackers in the NFL, had their problems shedding blocks against the run and the tackling and hitting of Michael Huff, and Stuart Schweigert in particular, was atrocious.

While regarded as a player who held the point of attack as an end, it’s worth noting the Raiders surrendered fewer yards per carry (4.5) in games Kelly missed than in the ones he played (5.2).

Ryan said Sands’ problems had to do with not getting low enough to use his leverage and be an inside force along the lines of San Diego’s Jamal Williams. Kiffin later referred to family tragedies which affected Sands’ offseason preparation and caused him to show up last season out of shape.

Kiffin said Sands is doing better this year, so we’ll assume maybe he simply wasn’t feeling well during the minicamp practice where he was obviously out of breath in a non-contact team session.

Ryan was retained as defensive coordinator by Davis even though both he realized it was probably in his best interests to move on and told Kiffin as much.

Any chance he has of sticking around past this year will depend on how much he can get out of Kelly and Sands. Davis’ 79th birthday is today, and assume a dominant interior defensive line is near the top of his wish list.

One less day

The Raiders have moved up their reporting day to July 23 and will hold their first practice July 24.

Lombardi’s blast

In his new role as a columnist for CNN-SI.com, Mike Lombardi has been careful in what he says about his former employer, but he opened up a bit when writing about Warren Sapp’s contention that “the phone rings quite a bit on that sideline” when discussing Sapp’s tenure with the Raiders with the St. Petersburg Times.

Wrote Lombardi: “Having worked in that “black hole” for eight years, I know exactly what Warren is talking about. And those calls to the sideline are from one man and one man only. At times I have been the reluctant messenger on a few of them myself. They are never pleasant.

Second in a series of concerns regarding the makeup of the 2008 Raiders with the reporting date approaching on July 25 at the Napa Marriott:

C’mon. Aren’t you just a little bit nervous about the Raiders’ decision to sink some $16 million in guaranteed money into Javon Walker?

It was shaky at best even before his weekend of partying in Las Vegas left him with a broken jaw and a fractured orbital bone, according to police reports.

Raiders coach Lane Kiffin said at the club’s final OTA availability that Walker’s injuries were not an issue regarding being ready for training camp. We’ll take him at his word and assume Walker will be on the field on July 26, the day the Raiders hold their first practice on the Redwood School fields behind the Napa Marriott.

The thing is, even before Walker was found unconscious on a Vegas side street, there were indications he was in far from top form.

Having undergone three knee surgeries, Walker was being hold out of the second practices of the mandatory minicamp and OTAs. On two occasions, totally umprompted, coach Lane Kiffin made mention of Walker’s weight, indicating conditioning was an issue.

Kiffin was merely doing some gentle prodding through the media, but you’d like to think Walker would have arrived in prime condition, especially after talking such a good game about how he wanted the Broncos pay for the mistake of letting him go.

His decision to go to Vegas and spray champagne before the club’s final OTA, in that light, is troubling. Rich, young players are going to have their fun, but Walker is 29 years old. He should know better.

A revealing story by ESPN.com’s Bill Williamson painted the picture of a player who may still be deeply troubled by the shooting death of teammate Darrent Williams, who died in Walker’s arms in a limo. Former teammates and coaches are legitimately concerned about him.

Walker can be a generous, caring, engaging person, but also talked his way out of both Green Bay and Denver, the first over a contract issue, the second over the way he was used.

While it’s true the Raiders have a reputation for being a haven for the misunderstood, the best M.O. is usually to get a guy who needs to prove something and do it at a reasonable or even minimum salary, so he is hungry and eager to please.

In this case, the Raiders agreed to pay $16 million to a player who the Broncos didn’t want at a little over $5 million.

Either Al Davis or Mike Shanahan is going to be really wrong here.

The 2008 Raiders will be all about the development of JaMarcus Russell as a franchise quarterback. While it’s way too early to tell how that will go, I like what I’ve seen in a handful of practices.

As Kiffin noted, the key to getting Russell on track is his supporting cast. Walker is a big part of that cast.

Walker has had exactly one truly elite season in his six-year career. In 2004, he caught 89 passes for 1,382 yards and scored 12 touchdowns for the Packers and Brett Favre. Walker had an above average season in 2006 with the Broncos, with 69 catches for 1,084 yards and eight touchdowns _ a little better than Jerry Porter’s best seasons.

Walker, as astutely noted by Ronald Curry, is expected to be the Raiders top receiver by virtue of his paycheck.

During minicamps, the top free agent wide receiver wasn’t Walker, but Drew Carter, who looks to be the first to develop a chemistry with Russell. Curry looked strong after having surgery to remove a bone spur, but there was no mention of any surgery regarding a bone spur in either of his hands, which seemed to fail him at times in 2007.

The rest of the receiving corps is full of question marks. Johnnie Lee Higgins had one spectacular minicamp practice and followed it up by dropping everything in sight. Arman Shields, the fourth-round draft pick, pulled a hamstring and fell behind seventh-rounder Chaz Schilens.

Free agent Todd Watkins had some impressive moments. Drisan James, Jonathan Holland, Marcel Reece and Will Buchanon are all longshots, hoping for a chance at the practice squad.

The Raiders need a reasonable facsimile of the Walker who caught four passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns at the Coliseum on Dec. 22, 2003, the night the Packers embarrassed Oakland 41-7 on Monday night.

Davis likes the idea of looking at a situation differently than everyone else.

The signing of Walker would certainly qualify.