Article idea by Jake Cousineau
The first round of the 2013 NFL draft is upon us, and for the second straight year, arguably the most famous of all NFL GMs will not be making the trip to Radio City Music Hall in New York.
Allen Davis passed away Oct 8, 2011 from heart failure at his home in Oakland and and in doing so has left a void in every NFL fan and follower. Love or hate Al Davis you can't deny that he was the most well known owner in the league if not in all of professional sports in North America. He went from coordinator to head coach and GM to AFL commissioner to head of football operations to eventually ownership.
Three superbowl wins, and 4 AFC championships proves as evidence as Al's legacy. However, due to recent drafts (2007), a number of high draft pick busts (JaMarcus, Rolando) and his final move, a questionable 3rd round supplemental draft pick on Terrelle Pryor it had left Al as a punch line come draft day.
Now I am not here to judge a man who gave 60 years of his life to better a sport or on his ability to evaluate talent, (he did trade a coach, John Gruden, for two 1st round picks, two second round picks and $8 million in cash and then proceeded to make the superbowl the following season however eventually losing to the coach he had traded away) I'm just making the point that when the Oakland Raiders were on the clock during the first day it might have been the most exciting part of the draft just due to absolute uncertainty alone.
With many teams' picks already known or specific to 2 or 3 players, having Al and his passion for forty times is a sight that is surely missed. However, with his brother Jerry still writing the names on the cards there still may be a little unexpectedness left in the organization. Having four top 100 picks and ten picks in total in the draft there is plenty of opportunity for surprise.
The man who has been trying to fill Al Davis' shoes is 2nd year GM Reggie Mckenzie. Mckenzie's first draft as the Raiders' GM was 2012. In that year the silver and black's first pick wasn't until the 3rd round where he drafted Utah guard Tony Bergstrom with the 95th overall pick.
In Al Davis fashion here is a look at the fastest 40 times from the combine.
4.27 Marquise Goodwin, Texas wide receiver
4.34 Tavon Austin, West Virginia wide receiver
*4.34 Onterio McCalebb, Auburn running back
4.34 Ryan Swope, Texas A&M wide receiver
4.36 Darius Slay, Mississippi State cornerback
4.37 Knile Davis, Arkansas running back
4.37 Dee Milliner, Alabama cornerback
4.38 Josh Boyce, Texas Christian wide receiver
4.38 Kenny Stills, Oklahoma wide receiver
4.38 Desmond Trufant, Washington cornerback
4.39 Robert Alford, Southeastern Louisiana cornerback
4.39 Jamar Taylor, Boise State cornerback
4.40 Brandon McGee, Miami cornerback
4.41 Sanders Commings, Georgia cornerback
4.41 Kayvon Webster, South Florida cornerback
My In Memory of Al pick
4.43 Denard Robinson, Michigan Wide Receiver
*Onterio ran an unofficial time 4.21 which would have been a forty time record had it stood
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