Raiders

Offense

Yeah, everything’s normal in Oakland. Raiders coach Lane Kiffin is a strict offensive mind, and the team has coordinator Greg Knapp in place. Kiffin is already being forced to interview James Lofton as WRs coach this week. Maybe next he’ll be interviewing Saunders to take his job as head coach.

Does Davis even listen to him? “Yeah, he does. I don’t know what he does with it, but we talk a lot,” Kiffin said. “Because of the fact that we don’t have a general manager, he’s really the general manager. He’s kind of the general manager, director of college scouting, director of pro personnel and sometimes the defensive coordinator.”

Stanford finished the college year 8-5, including a 31-27 loss to Oklahoma in the Sun Bowl. Oakland’s Al Davis has undoubtedly monitored Harbaugh’s progress, and none of the top available head coaching candidates seem to want to coach in Buffalo. Harbaugh, though, recently signed an extension.

Since OTAs and minicamps were over, this is fairly irrelevent. It’s just weight training. Lane Kiffin spinned it positively, “I was notified that the players’ union believes our total commitment to improving our football team has resulted in some violations of rules regarding practice standards.”

Raiders PR director Mike Taylor says Kiffin was feeling sick “for a couple of days” and was taken to the hospital for observation. Taylor says the infection isn’t serious, but it’s uncertain when Kiffin will get back to work.

Kiffin was hospitalized and missed two days of camp with the minor ailment.

Kiffin isn’t supposed to yell or exert much energy on the practice field. This ailment could stay with him for the first part of the season.

“I don’t know if he trusts everyone in that building right now,” Schefter said on NFL Network. Schefter nailed the Art Shell firing weeks before it happened last season, so this is a situation worth monitoring. Even if it did happen, don’t expect anything before the end of the year.

All this for Arkansas? There have been multiple reports that Kiffin isn’t thrilled with being in Oakland, and the feeling may be mutual. “It’s the same deal there as it was in Atlanta,” the source told Profootballtalk.com “No one is real happy.” It sounds like Kiffin could be one and done in Oakland.

Kiffin has reportedly been removed from all free agency, draft, and coaching staff related decisions. Schefter says the “stalemate” or “staredown” between Kiffin and owner Al Davis has continued. As for Kiffin being fired later this offseason, nothing should be a surprise in Raiders land.