FanHouse JavonWalker

Oakland Raiders wide receiver Javon Walker had knee surgery last month. No surprise there; hundreds of NFL players have surgery each offseason. But here's the odd twist: Walker didn't inform the Raiders that he was having the procedure.

It's not completely clear what is wrong with Walker's right knee -- the same knee he injured in 2007 -- but it's serious enough that he isn't able to participate in this weekend's minicamp and won't be ready to go until training camp starts in July. And whatever is wrong with the knee, it's particularly odd that Walker apparently didn't bother to tell the Raiders until a few weeks after the operation.

Everyone makes mistakes. But when those mistakes are magnified by intense scrutiny of the NFL draft, well, they become much more embarrassing than, say, my typical Friday morning, mustard-stain-on-khakis incident.

Which is why the NFL FanHouse braintrust got together to determine who is the biggest bust for each NFL team. They're not listed in terms of stupidity -- they're all stupid relative to a team's total draft performance. Meaning, of course, some teams "bust" is much different than another organization's; we did it this way to avoid just linking you to DetroitLions.com.

Instead, we're putting it in current draft order, sans trades, and allowing this list to serve as a reminder of each's team's ability to properly execute a fail. The "bust factor" was based primarily on three things: statistical production (or lack thereof), position in the draft and other available options during that year's draft.

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With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.

The Oakland Raiders are coming off their sixth straight losing season and will be entering 2009 with their fifth different head coach in seven years.

For the second consecutive offseason, the Raiders have spent a gargantuan amount of money on cornerbacks Nnamdi Asomugha and Chris Johnson, and punter Shane Lechler. The Raiders also find themselves in their customary spot in the top 10 of the NFL draft, and their biggest need is pretty obvious.

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

The 2008 season might go down as one of the most bizarre campaigns in the history of the Oakland Raiders. Lane Kiffin and Al Davis clearly didn't get along, while Kiffin pulled off the impossible task of making Davis look like a sane, rational person.

A team spokesperson nearly decked a beat writer; the punter was, reportedly, punched out by a defensive lineman; and the team on the field finished with a losing season, failing to win more than five games for the sixth consecutive year. Just a disastrous season in every way imaginable.

On Friday, the Oakland Raiders released safety Gibril Wilson, defensive end Kalimba Edwards and wide receiver Ronald Curry, saving the team about $6 million against the 2009 salary cap.

Think back to last offseason when owner Al Davis, in an effort to return his once proud franchise to glory, was signing blank checks with a stamp and passing them out to second-tier free agents like it was the fashionable thing to do. A year later, it's becoming obvious as to how much of a total failure the offseason was.

When NFL free agency starts, the free agents are typically not the only ones who are looking for a new contract. A handful of players who have years left on their current deals are bound to decide that they've "out-performed the contract." Some of these players will decide to politely request a new deal or a raise, with no intention of doing anything in retaliation should they not get what they want.

What many fans don't necessarily know is that a lot of the rumblings start at the Pro Bowl.

No team in the NFL has completed fewer passes this season than the Oakland Raiders, and frankly, it's not even close. That's probably not all that shocking to you, seeing as how JaMarcus Russell is a second-year quarterback, and the Raiders are, for the most part, a running team blessed with a deep backfield including Justin Fargas, Darren McFadden and Michael Bush. Naturally, like any team, they're going to stick with their strength.

Still, Russell has struggled at times, while also showing flashes of the potential that made him the No. 1 overall pick a year ago. Perhaps one of the problems he's dealing with this season is the fact his wide receivers are, well, for lack of a better word -- terrible.

Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee pointed out today that the Raiders haven't had more than one wide receiver catch a pass in a game in four weeks, and that Michael Bush, a 245-pound running back -- who is now playing fullback -- is second on the team with 18 receptions.

Sounds pretty bad. But it gets worse.

Here's the deal: two big-name, offseason free-agent acquisitions, cornerback DeAngelo Hall and wide receiver Javon Walker, are no longer available to facilitate the team's decent into repugnation (just made that one up, but it seems oddly fitting). Hall, and his seven-year, $70 million contract have been jettisoned, and Walker declared his 2008 season over because of a bad ankle.

(Gretz punched some numbers into his old schoool TI-35 and figures that, given Walker's set to make $12 million this year, he's pulling down $800,000 per catch. Splendid.)

It gets worse, though.

The Raiders are not only out $20 million in actual dollars for the 16 games played by DeAngelo Hall and Javon Walker, but will also see both players take up a good chunk of salary cap space in 2009.

With Hall having been waived, the Raiders will have $5.833,334 in "dead money" under the 2009 cap, according to league figures.

Furthermore, according to the Oakland Tribune's Jerry McDonald, Walker's contract virtually guarantees the team will have to pay him a $5 million bonus despite his injury. McDonald continued bearing bad news: "Should Oakland pay the guarantee as stipulated and then cut Walker, the 2009 cap charge $14,166,667 to terminate the relationship. Combined with the Hall dead money, that's $20 million in dead money."

I think NFL commissioner Roger Goodell should give the Raiders an uncapped 2009 just to see if it would make a difference. Given this, I'd wager no, but some sort of cost-of-doing-business-with-Al Davis salary adjustment doesn't seem unreasonable.

Javon Walker has been, pretty much, a tremendous failure for crazy Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders this year, hauling in only 15 passes through the teams first nine games of the season. And at $12 million dollars this year, that's only $800,000 per catch. And that one touchdown? Yeah, that cost $12 million.

All of that aside, Walker suffered an ankle injury in this past Sunday's 17-6 loss to the Panthers, which saw the Raiders unable to take advantage of four Jake Delhomme interceptions. It was a performance that ultimately led to Davis making his offensive coordinator a glorified fan for the remainder of the season.

So, how bad is Walker's injury? According to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee, bad enough to end his season, and perhaps, his tenure as a Raider.

Say this for Raiders owner Al Davis: His team's losing isn't due to a lack of effort on his part. Sure, he may not know how to win in today's NFL, but he can sign blank checks with the best of them, as demonstrated by the salary data released by USA Today.

According to the data, Oakland currently sits atop the NFL with a payroll of $152 million, $6 million more than the No. 2 team on the list, the Dallas Cowboys. Oakland and Dallas are the only teams spending over $140 million, while only the Saints, Vikings and Browns join them in the $130 million club. The Kansas City Chiefs currently have the lowest payroll at $83 million, and have only one fewer win than the Raiders.

The Raiders are currently on pace to win four games this season, and should they reach that mark Davis will have spent, roughly, $38 million per win. Should they hold steady at two wins, well, that would be $76 million per win.

So, how did the Raiders get to the top of the NFL's pay scale? By overpaying a lot of bad players, it would appear.