[EmpireWF]

The talk on the day before the draft for the Oakland Raiders surrounded the contract talks with players they're thinking about taking...or lack thereof. The #1 pick team can negotiate with any player they're interested in. In recent days, talk around the cooler said Oakland never contacted Jamarcus Russell and were involved in talks with Brady Quinn and Calvin Johnson. However, now it appears the Quinn talk was for show.

Some in Oakland's hierarchy think they should take Johnson and then a QB in the 2nd round. Others think they should stick with picking a QB and the likely choice would be Russell.

Few expect a contract to be done before the draft, unlike last year with Houston and Mario Williams.

[Lefty Noob]

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, Empire... I was just thinking about this yesterday. Odd that, not only isn't a deal done, but there have been no reports about negotiations at all. That leads me to believe they're more interested in trading out of the pick, but I can't imagine they'd have too many takers, considering the dough the #1 pick overall would be due.