[scho63]

Originally Posted by 3rd&48ers

I don't feel as bad about my team now

You finally got a point there...ALMOST

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/08/wors...akland-raiders

NFL players say they don't want to play for Oakland and Buffalo

Stop the presses: NFL players don’t want to play for bad teams.

As part of an NFL Nation poll, ESPN asked more than 100 NFL players the following question: “The only way I’d play for [team name] is if they doubled my salary.” It’s not exactly earth-shattering news that the teams earning the most votes — Oakland (23%), Buffalo (19%), Cleveland (16%) and Jacksonville (9%) were among the NFL’s worst in the past decade.

Each of those four teams have the longest playoff droughts of any team in the AFC. Buffalo (14 years) and Oakland (11 years) have the two longest playoff droughts in the entire NFL. Throw in the stigma that Oakland isn’t a franchise that values stability and it was a natural top choice.

Some Raiders players were upset about that. Charles Woodson told ESPN the rankings were “pretty shocking.” Marcel Reese notes that the Raiders might have a bad reputation, but it’s unearned because its current players don’t “do bad things” and don’t have the most arrests. (The second point is true, the first is debatable. The Raiders are about average in terms of player arrests this century.)

They may be missing the point. The 23% of the respondents to this poll didn’t say why they chose Oakland, Woodson and Reese just inferred it had something to do with the front office and “silver and black” mentality. I’d actually assume the biggest reason no one wants to play in Oakland is because the team has been terrible ever since getting blown out in the Super Bowl by Tampa. The Raiders also don’t make big splashes in free agency, which cultivates the mentality that no one wants to be there.

Recent free-agent signings might bear out what the poll suggests. Take a look at the players identified as the top-10 free agent signings in Oakland history, as posted on the team’s official website. It’s filled with old players at the end of their careers (Rich Gannon, Jerry Rice, Rod Woodson) and marginal talents (Tyrone Wheatley, Charlie Garner, Derrick Burgess). There’s nary a blockbuster on there.

If the Raiders don’t win and don’t get free agents, why would anyone want to play there? It wouldn’t take much to change that perception. All it takes are some Ws and dollar signs.