QB

Jason Campbell

(+) If anyone can thrive in a “new system” Campbell should know what to expect as he’s had to learn a new system repeatedly throughout his career
(+) Campbell should benefit from a very weak pass schedule (5th overall)
(+) He is coming off career highs in completions, yards, and TDs in Washington
(–) The skill players surrounding him have a lot of unanswered questions to them:  Bush, McFadden, Murphy, Schilens, and Z. Miller
(–) Jason takes too many sacks due to holding onto the ball too long, which could be a real problem behind a shaky Raiders O-Line (27th overall in Pass Protection)

RB

Darren McFadden

(+) Al Davis drafted this guy 4th overall… which means he’ll get every opportunity to justify that pick
(+) My goodness, the guy is 6’2”, 210 lbs and runs a 4.33 40-yard dash – we’re willing to take a flier on shit like that
(+) With a 9th ranked rush schedule and Jason Campbell under center, this is the best situation he’s had in his short career
(+) With the way that the NFL has changed over the past few years, D-Mac has a bigger upside than Michael Bush, and Justin Fargas is finally gone
(–) Last 2 years:  Darren McFadden: 217 carries, 856 yards, 5 TDs    Michael Bush: 218 carries, 1,010 yards, 6 TDs
(–) Considering the amount of games McFadden has missed so far (7 games in 2 years), health is always an issue
(–) Regardless of his draft-status, he’s simply an unproven commodity in the NFL so far

Michael Bush

(+) Who cares about draft-status… Bush has been better than Darren McFadden the past two years.  Period
(+) At 6’1”, 245 lbs with speed, Bush has been a man-child every step of his life
(+) With Justin Fargas gone, Bush is primed to have an uptick in carries and might take over the starting job
(–) He’s had the opportunity the last 2 years to be the man, yet there’s something missing in him that has us still having McFadden ranked higher 
(–) Is Al Davis’s money-shot Darren McFadden or not?

WR

Chaz Schilens

(+) Chaz easily has the best combination of size (6’4”, 225 lbs) and speed (4.38 40-yard dash) among the Raiders wide receivers
(+) Enter Jason Campbell  :  Exit JaMama Russell
(+) The Raiders have made major improvements on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball which could see the Raiders in playoff contention come December
(+) Oakland has the 5th easiest schedule against the pass in the league
(–) Schilens is coming off yet another injury that caused him to miss half the season in 2009
(–) Al Davis is known to favor a player’s draft-position over a player’s talent, which could work against him (7th round pick, 226th overall)

Louis Murphy

(+) Surprised everyone nicely last year with a solid rookie campaign (especially considering his QB; 96 targets is the stat to look at here)
(+) Looks to be the starter with Schilens and could get the most targets if Schilens gimps again
(+) Oakland has a nice pass schedule (5th overall) and a vastly improved quarterback.  Both points lean towards a nice hike in production
(–) The Raiders will have a tough time protecting Jason Campbell, and yet AGAIN, Campbell has to learn another offense scheme (9th different offense in the past 10 years)

Darius Heyward-Bey

TE

Zach Miller

(+) The arrival of Jason Campbell is a huge bonus for Miller as his TEs flourished while he played in Washington (Cooley and F. Davis)
(+) Miller has proven to be the best downfield option for Oakland since Randy Moss left
(+) New OC Hue Jackson is 9-23 as an OC in the NFL and has shown a heavy tendency to pass the ball while losing games.  This should help out with Miller’s targets
(+) The Raiders have a very nice Passing schedule ahead of them in 2010 (5th overall in the league)
(–) Oakland is not a good Pass Blocking team which could provide some early struggles for Campbell as he gets a hold of the offense
(–) Touchdowns have been few and far between for the Raiders (Miller only saw 7 Red Zone targets last year)
(–) Even though Campbell helps, he is still Jason Campbell working in yet another new offensive system (9 different schemes in the last 10 years)

-  The Oakland Raiders started the 2009 season hoping to see some development from Jamarcus Russell and an improvement on their horrid record
-  Oakland started the season 2-7 before replacing Russell as their starting QB with Bruce Gradkowski
-  The Raiders struggled throughout the season finishing with a 5-11 record and finally finding out that Russell was the biggest bust in draft history
-  The team scored 197 points and allowed 379 points against

2009 Total Points Rank:           19th(95 tot pts)
2009 Average/Game Rank:     34th (5.9 pts/gm)

FR=Fumbles Recoverd, PA=Points Allowed, FP Rank=Fantasy Points Rank, FP/G=Fantasy Points per Game

2010 Raiders Defensive Outlook... 

Here is the first paragraph of the Browns Defensive write up…

"The Browns do a nice job rushing the passer which goes a long way, but they really struggle to stop the run, and when you’re down as much as the Browns are, you’re going to see the run a lot.  Undoubtedly, the 40 sacks they put up last season (8^th in the league) was a huge factor in their overall ability to stop the pass, but they couldn’t turn these chances into turnovers ranking 31^st overall with only 19."

You can pretty much insert Raiders anywhere you see the Browns name and you have the picture.  They rush the passer, they do a nice job against the pass, but they struggle in turnovers and teams really just run it right down their throats.  The Raiders put up 37 sacks (12^th in the league) and we like them as the 8^th rated pass d, but we have them at 30^th against the run.  Until they shore that problem up, they won’t be sniffing the playoffs. 

Richard Seymour and Nnamdi Asomugha push the start power for the Raiders Defense.  Nnamdi was widely considered the best CB in the game until Darrelle Revis remembered he was better than Deion Sanders for a season.  Seymour brings it every play and will help this defense stay focused.

Here’s one more sentence from the Browns write up you can just substitute the Raiders name in for…

"Too many questions though for any real draft consideration.  What can we say, it’s the Browns."   errrr...  Raiders that is

 -  Kirk Morrison led the team with 133 tackles, Tyvon Branch had 124
-  The Raiders had 37 sacks last season
-  Leading sackers were Greg Ellis and Trevor Scott with 7.0 sacks each
-  How can the Raiders keep improving on defense and create turnovers??
-  Chris Johnson and Michael Huff led the team with 3 INTs each
-  Team forced 13 fumbles
-  Team forced a total of 21 turnovers
-  Can Rolando McClain be the playmaker the Raiders think he is

Team PYRO is hyper about Offensive Lines!  Understanding who will be blocking for the players on your roster is vital to your teams Fantasy success.  We take many factors into account when we rank these units, including weight, height, starts together as a unit, starts per year played, rushing average, sacks allowed, draft position, contact situation, pro bowl/all pro honors, Adjusted Line Yardage (ALY) and Adjusted Sack Rate (stats found at the link below).  O-Line Rank is one more piece of the puzzle that directs us towards delivering you a Fantasy Football Championship. 

Here is another great resource for looking at O-Lines…    http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol

The fantasy lifeblood of the players sitting on your roster boils down to one EXTREMELY important stat.  Drum Roll please……………………………  ATTEMPTS!!!!  Ahhhh, there, we said it.  Before you can make a play, you gotta have the pill in your hands.  It’s pretty simple really, in the immortal words of the maligned Keyshawn Johnson… “Just give me the damn ball”.  There is no “I” in the word “team”, but don’t fool yourself, it’s in the word rotisserie twice. 

For the QB, it’s Pass Attempts, for the RB, it’s Carries, and for the WR and TE, it’s Targets.  If you look at the players in the league who are amassing large quantities of points, they are the ones who are seeing the rock come their way the most often.  Sure, you have to be good enough to do something with the p-skin when you get it, but never forget, you can’t make a play until you have the pill in your hands. 

The PYRO Offensive scheme charts aim to deliver you perhaps the most important information you could attain before and after draft day; Will my player get the chances they need to put out or will they be shut out?  It really boils down to what the offensive game plan on Sunday is.  These charts should provide some perspective on which teams are going to live by land and which are going to live by air. 

By Air

-  Jason Campbell will enter his first season with the Raiders, he will look more like a quarterback than anything
         the Raiders have seen in 5 years
-  The Raiders finished last season ranking 29th in the league with 2,557 passing yards
-  Oakland will look for improvement from second year receivers Darrius Heyward-Bey and Louis Murphy
-  Chaz Schilens, Johnnie Lee-Higgins, and rookie speedster Jacoby Ford will provide depth in the receiving corps
-  Zach Miller will look to stay steady with a new incumbent at QB
-  The RBs for the Raiders are effective receivers out of the backfield, especially McFadden this should increase
         with a better passing game next season

By Land

-  Oakland had a deep running back corps that allows them to spread the carries around to three different backs
         but that will be down to just two this years
-  The Raiders finished last season ranking 21st in the league with 1,701 rushing yards
-  Darren McFadden will look to increase his workload as well as his output now that defenses cant just stack
         the box against the running game
-  Michael Bush will contend with McFadden for the starting position, and he has a good chance of winning it,
         he averaged 4.8 yards per carry to McFadden’s 3.4

RZ Touches (Position Rank) = The first number you see is Red Zone Touches (a pass attempt, a carry, or a target inside the 20 yard line).  The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.

% of Teams RZ Touches (Position Rank) = The first number is the players percentage of touches cut out against the total number of the Teams Red Zone plays called.  The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.  So, if Thomas Jones received a touch in 45 percent of the Jets Red Zone calls last year, and Knowshon Moreno received a touch in 38 percent of all the Broncos plays last year, Jones would be ranked higher at his position than Moreno would be.

RZ TD Success Rate (Position Rank) = The first number is the percentage of which an individual player was able to score a TD against his total number of touches.   The number in the parentheses is where this player ranks amongst the rest of the NFL at that position.

Why Should I look at this Chart?

We couldn’t possibly take up a whole minute of your valuable fantasy football research time babbling about the importance of Attempts for your team and then leave out Red Zone Tendencies.

Yep, same drill with these charts, only a lot more important if scoring TD’s is what you’re leagues about.  The PYRO Red Zone Tendencies chart delivers a touchdown focused microcosm of the Offensive Scheme section.

To score a TD, your player needs a touch (pass att, carry, or target), and when they get a touch inside the 20, great things can happen for your Fantasy teams total points line.

It’s really easy, touches are King and converting a touch in the red is Fantasy Gold.

PYRO 2010 Raider Leaders in the Red Zone... 

1. Michael Bush
2. Darren McFadden
3. Zach Miller
4. Louis Murphy
5. Chaz Schilens

Team PYRO considers our Strength of Schedule data an essential part of building you a Fantasy Championship.  This data is integral in helping us rank our players each year.  So far, so good.  We go to GREAT lengths to deliver you this PYRO nugget and we know nobody else in the industry is putting forth this type of effort, which puts you at a great advantage if you have been using us as your fantasy football research outlet.  Our SoS considers three factors when determining rankings for schedules for the upcoming year:

1) 75% weight is applied to the strength of defense from the previous season.  This is determine by fantasy points given up (run and pass).  Easy right? Here's where Team Pyro goes deep: before we get to that number, we factor in the quality of teams that these defenses had to face (essentially, a strength-of-schedule for the prior season).

 
2) 20% weight is applied to Free-Agent, Trade, and Injury Returns that will help or hurt the team for the current year.  We rank each players impact to their former team (2008), sum it all up, and then rank each team accordingly.

3) 5% weight is applied to the NFL drafincoming rookie impact.  It's a challenge to successfully gauge a rookie's effectiveness (too many Jamarcus Russells out there) which is why we valued it so low.  Some teams not only drafted highly touted defensemen this year, but will be immediately filling deficient positions from '09 with rookies, and usually, anything is an upgrade when you are starting a rookie.

Chart Key =

Ranking:  1=easiest  32=toughest

QB's, WR's, and TE's

(INDY) Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, and Dallas Clark have the EASIEST passing schedule in 2010

(BALT) Joe Flacco, Anquan Boldin, and Todd Heap have the HARDEST passing schedule in 2010

RB's

(SF) Frank Gore has the EASIEST rushing schedule in 2010

(MIA) Ronnie Brown has the HARDEST rushing schedule in 2010

July 16, 2010

Signed LB Travis Goethel and DB Jeremy Ware.

July 13, 2010

Signed CB Walter McFadden.

July 9, 2010

Agreed to terms with OL Jared Veldheer and OL Bruce Campbell. Released LB Isaiah Ekejiuba.

June 19, 2010

Signed DL Richard Seymour.

May 6, 2010

Released QB JaMarcus Russell. Signed RB Michael Bennett.

May 1, 2010

Waived FB Oren O'Neal.

April 16, 2010

Signed LB Thomas Howard.

April 15, 2010

Signed QB Kyle Boller.

April 14, 2010

Signed LB Kirk Morrison a restricted free agent tender.

April 13, 2010

Signed K Swayze Waters.

April 6, 2010

Signed DL Chris Cooper.

April 3, 2010

Re-signed OT Langston Walker.

March 30, 2010

Signed S Hiram Eugene.

March 23, 2010

Signed DT William Joseph, LB Ricky Brown and FB Luke Lawton.

March 15, 2010

Signed QB Bruce Gradkowski and LS Jon Condo.

March 14, 2010

Acquired LB Kamerion Wimbley from Cleveland for an undisclosed draft pick.

March 11, 2010

Released DT Gerard Warren.

March 8, 2010

Released WR Javon Walker and DE Greg Ellis.

March 6, 2010

Released RB Justin Fargas.

March 5, 2010

Re-signed OL Khalif Barnes to a one-year contract.

March 4, 2010

Tendered contracts to QB Bruce Gradkowski, CB Stanford Routt, LB Thomas Howard, LB Ricky Brown, C Jon Condo, LB Kirk Morrison and OL Chris Morris.

February 25, 2010

Designated DL Richard Seymour as the franchise player.

February 16, 2010

Agreed to terms with K Sebastian Janikowski on a four-year contract.

February 8, 2010

Named Clancy Pendergast assistant coach.

January 26, 2010

Named Hue Jackson offensive coordinator.