FanHouse TommyKelly

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.

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.

Earlier this evening, Michael David Smith passed along the big news that the Oakland Raiders were prepared to part ways with, perhaps, the worst off-season pickup in the NFL, DeAngelo Hall. While Hall's poor play -- magnified by the hefty price tag he comes with -- hasn't been a surprise to, well, pretty much anyone outside of Al Davis' inner-circle of crazy, it is a surprise to see them be willing to part ways with him after just eight games.

I, for one, applaud them for owning up and, essentially, admitting that they made a huge, huge mistake. Well, two mistakes, actually. The first mistake was trading for him, the second mistake was giving him a brinks truck full of Benjamin's.

Having said that, it's equally surprising to see ESPN's tag-team duo of Chris Mortensen and John Clayton report that Davis has a list of players currently on his bad side, and that many of them could be released in an everything-must-go-style roster trimming. The other big name, allegedly, on the list? Perhaps the second worst off-season pickup, Javon Walker. The only thing that keeps Walker from being the worst, in my mind, is the fact the Raiders didn't have to give up a second-round pick to acquire him. Just a lot of money.

Going back to training camp and the preseason, I've made more than a few (bad) jokes about how Lane Kiffin is just a puppet on the sidelines, while owner Al Davis is controlling him from his lair high on top of Mt. Davis. Well, apparently, based on Kiffin's comments on Wednesday afternoon, that's pretty much true. At least as far as the Raiders' defense is concerned.

"I'm not going to get really get into if I was the defensive coordinator what I would do because that doesn't really matter," coach Lane Kiffin said Wednesday. "I'm the head coach. I oversee everything and I control what I can control. Do I have the exact belief we do on defense? No, but it's hard to have the exact belief that we do. So, it is what it is."

That sounds like a young man just brimming with confidence in his defense. According to the article, the Raiders blitzed only four times on Monday night, while there's also that odd mention of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan being in constant contact with the owner - who, apparently, dislikes blitzing defenses. Is it normal for a defensive coordinator and an owner to always be in contact? I don't think it is.

The Raiders have been busy little beavers this offseason, adding players who, to varying degrees, should help them win more than four games this season. For example, DeAngelo Hall and Darren McFadden should play a more prominent role in Oakland's success than, say, Javon Walker.

The Raiders also re-upped defensive lineman Tommy Kelly to fat new deal, but he's still recovering from an ACL injury, and one of the team's many weaknesses last season -- the d-line -- still lacks depth heading into '08. Which is why Oakland is interested in digging up a couple ginormous fossils:

The word around the league is that the Raiders are looking for some veteran depth at defensive tackle. ...

There are two veterans out there that Oakland knows plenty about: Sam Adams and Grady Jackson. Jackson played his first five NFL seasons, from 1997-2001, with Oakland. Adams played in Oakland in 2002 and was a big part of the Raiders' Super Bowl team.

Both players are free agents and both have an interest in playing. If Oakland feels like it needs to sign a veteran at the position, Adams or Jackson may be players it turns to.

After not really talking to the media for the last two months, Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin opened up at the NFL owner's meetings this week. He basically answered every conceivable question about the team's off-season, but two comments stood out above the rest.

On trading for CB DeAngelo Hall: "Was cornerback our No. 1 need? No. But DeAngelo became available, and he is a player with great potential. . . . We couldn't pass him up."

I understand the sentiment: DeAngelo Hall is a shutdown corner, blah, blah, blah. And I get that owner Al Davis loves speed and defensive coordinator Rob Ryan loves cornerbacks who excel in man coverage. Fine. But Colts' head coach Tony Dungy's take on the whole pass rusher vs. cornerback argument makes you wonder if the Raiders might've been better off solidifying the defensive line.

And that leads to quote No. 2:

On replacing retired DT Warren Sapp with DE Tommy Kelly:"Tommy has played three different positions for us. With Warren being a 3-technique, Tommy really hasn't been able to flourish at what we feel is his best position. But Rob (Ryan) feels Tommy is the best 3-technique in the league."

In the 24 hours since the Oakland Raiders signed defensive lineman Tommy Kelly to a seven-year, $50 million contract with more than $18 million guaranteed, I've taken some time to consult various sources I trust to gauge their opinions on the deal.

The consensus: What the hell were the Raiders thinking?

Kelly is a fine player. He's versatile enough to play either end or tackle, and he has the skill set necessary to play in either a 4-3 or a 3-4. It's not like he's terrible.

But the Raiders, who expect to use him as their three-technique tackle, have just made him the highest-paid defensive tackle in the NFL. I can't find anyone who thinks he's worth even close to that kind of money. He's coming off a torn ACL, he's not a particularly good pass rusher, and he's a little slim to be a run-stuffing defensive tackle.

This is the kind of contract that leaves a team wondering what happened to all of its salary cap space when it's in desperate need of depth at other positions. The Raiders gave Kelly way too much money.