To succeed at anything takes investment and sacrifice. For too long The Raiders have been a leverage piece/bargaining chip in free agents quest to get a max deal from a winning franchise. The..." for PepsiTo succeed at anything takes investment and sacrifice. For too long The Raiders have been a leverage piece/bargaining chip in free agents quest to get a max deal from a winning franchise. The reality is the Raiders organization has been run like an investment firm and not a football team.In order to rescue itself from salary cap purgatory Eddie Vanderdoes Jersey , a frugal and methodical approach to personnel was applied. Attacking free agency and draft picks like a middling mutual fund portfolio. Getting a great return on the initial investment, but becoming stagnant, and lacking in growth since the 2017 seasonLuxury cars are items which aren’t cost effective and require a lot of maintenance in order to be running at optimal performance. Star players are not much different, between ego massages, the antics and oddities of the football gifted, they deliver memorable moments in franchise history.Mark Davis general manager Mike Mayock and coach Jon Gruden truly want to win, and they know they can’t afford to be cheap. Should they throw money at just anyone...that’s not what should be gathered from this. Rather, they should identify the best of the best and back up the Brinks truck to pay them. Mr. Big ChestIt has been reported the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Raiders have reached a verbal agreement to trade Brown for a 2019 3rd and 5th round pick. The Raiders are waiting for the open of the 2019 league year, on March 13th to finalize the mega-trade for iconic wide receiver Antonio “Business is Booming” Brown. Pirates search for treasure chests, and Raiders pillage just for fun. Browns threatened holdout/retirement has resulted in a reworked 3yr/$50.1M, $30.1M guaranteed deal with the Raiders averaging $16.7M per year, and the best part about it is the Steelers are still on the hook for $11M in 2019. Brown emerges from this trade as the ultimate winner. The Raiders pulled the trigger on a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the best receiver in football since 2011. The final snag was whether or not the Raiders were going to give him a new deal. If anyone was worth what they asked it would be Brown, his production and standing as the number one wide receiver since 2011 is without question. As it stands with a deal pending for guard Kelechi Osemele to the Jets, the Raiders have swapped Amari Cooper for just a third round pick. Blindside on LockdownAnd the hits just keep on coming early and often. The front office is moving at a speed which is faster than the rest of the league. Nine minutes into the legal tampering period the Raiders reached an agreement to pay OT Trent Brown a record-setting 4yr/$66M contract with $36.75M guaranteed to become their left tackle.When you have the best receiver in football and are trying to sign the most dynamic player from scrimmage the best blocking is required. Future TransactionsTrading KO who has no dead money remaining on his deal frees up another $10.2M against the salary cap. From there one can infer the Raiders intend to move guard Gabe Jackson back to his original left guard position and extend re-signed guard Denzelle Good, a shot to start next to Kolton Miller, who moves to right tackle with the addition of Trent Brown. It’s also a strong belief there will be a draft pick or two, possibly even one of Gruden’s Senior Bowl offensive lineman added as well. What Raider fans should keep their fingers crossed and draw unsubstantiated parallels from is the fact Brown is best friends with free agent running back Le’Veon Bell.The Need for Speed and toughnessIn today’s NFL everyone needs premiere talent and if you don’t draft it you have to overpay for it. The Oakland Raiders desperately need to get bigger, stronger, faster and younger players. The only way to acquire these types of players is to pay them more than anyone else, or scout the draft talent pool more closely and value things like size and speed.The safe approach has safely been proven ineffective and kept an organization known for being “A villain big and bold” into some relative nice guys. Raider brass knows it needs to do something else in order to beat the teams in their division.The Raiders are doing their homework on players and searching for premium value in free agency. No expense will be spared and remember Mayock has said we need to surround Carr with weapons. From time to time, celebrities including actors, scientists and well-known sports figures go on the popular website Reddit to participate in Ask Me Anything (AMA) threads, taking unfiltered..." />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesSilver And Black Pride homepageHorizontal - WhiteSilver And Black Pridean Oakland Raiders communityFollow Silver And Black Pride online:Follow Silver And Black Pride on TwitterFollow Silver And Black Pride on FacebookLog in or sign upLog InSign UpSite searchSearchSearchSilver And Black Pride main menuFanpostsFanshotsRaidersOddsAboutMastheadCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 321 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Raiders StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Raiders NewsYahoo Raiders Team PageYahoo Raiders ReportYahoo Raiders Depth ChartYahoo Raiders TransactionsYahoo Raiders PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub ✕Raiders TE Darren Waller answers questions in Reddit AMA sessionNew,29commentsPDTShare this storyShare this on FacebookShare this on TwitterShareAll sharing optionsShareAll sharing options for:Raiders TE Darren Waller answers questions in Reddit AMA sessionTwitterFacebookRedditPocketFlipboardEmailPhoto by Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesFrom time to time, celebrities including actors, scientists and well-known sports figures go on the popular website Reddit to participate in Ask Me Anything (AMA) threads, taking unfiltered questions from their fans. Today on the Oakland Raiders Reddit site, Raiders tight end Darren Waller held an AMA.He talked about his time with the Raiders, his youth football experiences, music, and more. Here are some of the questions and answers that are found in Waller’s AMA.Q: Hey Darren! Which rookie has impressed you the most this offseason? A: I’ll probably say Foster Moreau. I’m very impressed with him. Very good blocker. Very underrated in the passing game. You wouldn’t think he’s very fast if you look at his times, but he can really move. Very smooth runner. Definitely understands the game and takes it pretty seriously. All the rookies have done something to impress me, though.His consistency is impressive. I think he went up for a ball on a sail route in OTAs and just like… really got up off the ground, and I was like David Sharpe Jersey , Wow, Foster’s not just your typical grinder-of-the-ax blocking tight end. He can do a lot of things.Q: Other than all the new faces, what’s changed the most from last year?A: I feel like it’s the same energetic feel on offense. I feel like the defensive leadership has really stood out to me, as far as Vontaze and LaMarcus Joyner, but also guys like Tahir, Johnathan Hankins. Guys that have been here since last year. They’ve just really helped change the whole vibe around here. They know what our numbers were last year, but they know that there is no way they’re going to be the same this year.Q: Which tight end or receiver do you model your game after the most? Past or present.A: I’ve watched a LOT of tape, so there isn’t any one in particular. It’s more about taking things I like from a lot of other people’s game. Of course Jimmy Graham since the New Orleans days; you’ve got Kelce in our division; Zach Ertz; I’m really a fan of the way Greg Olsen plays… Lotta guys.Q: I have a question, do you think that being featured on Hard Knocks is as much of a distraction as people make it out to be? Seems a little overblown to me.A: I think it’s a bit overblown. I feel like they actually do a good job of capturing the camp atmosphere. I’ve had no problem with it. And I don’t sense any of the other guys going out of their way to be extra or show out for the cameras or anything like that. I feel like guys are just focusing in. We’ve got a lot of stuff to do here anyway, and if they want to make a show about it, that’s cool. We’ve got a pretty unique journey here.Q: What’s your favorite memory of football?A: We had a really good football team when I was like seven or eight to 10 years old. Blackwell Bears in Metro Atlanta. I played quarterback. Those were really great times. Our team was really good and those times when we were little and doing all those hitting drills — even though looking back now it’s like, that probably wasn’t the smartest thing. But those were probably the most fun times for me.Q: Hey Darren outside of football , what is your favorite pastime / hobby ? A: My favorite hobby right now is definitely producing and making beats and recording music. It’s something I started doing when I got drafted in Baltimore. I just started rapping in the iPod earbud headphones on my MacBook, but now I record at a studio.I’ve released some of it. I have a project called Wall Street coming out on my birthday September 3. I do have a SoundCloud. My first project’s called Better Call Wall. It’s on iTunes and Spotify.If you’re interested in Darren’s music, he raps under the name D Wall, and you can listen to his music here or here.Q: Other than natural talent, what made Jared Cook so successful in this system last year?After all, he did have a career year at 31 years old.A: His ability to retain a lot of information and his ability to line up in so many different spots. He’s such a good player, but if he just lined up in one spot, it would give the defense more of an opportunity to gameplan for him. But now it’s like he can line up out wide by himself, he can line up in the middle, trips, he can line up in the bunch, and it’s now it’s like, “Man, what do we do with this guy?” Because he’s a beast to begin with.Also his catch radius and how he looks the ball in when he catches it. He can catch it at so many angles, but if you zoom in on his eyes, they’re always looking it in. He’s a good route runner. Smooth. He’s knows those little tricks of the trade, like how you don’t always have to run full speed to get open. He knows where to fall into zones and how to fall back into holes for Derek. So that’s why he was really successful — among a whole lot of other things.

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Waller has been, according to media reports, far and away the best tight end at Raiders camp and many expect him to win the starting tight end job. It’s interesting to read about his personal approach to the game, his love for football and about his other interests in life. If Waller takes the tight end job and runs with it, you’ll see a lot more press about him this season.