For years, “crazy” has been a word applied from time to time to the ways and methods of the Oakland Raiders, in a derisive way. Raiders safety Charles Woodson has now used that term in a positive way.
“From what I’ve seen so far, the vibe is crazy right now,” Woodson said, via Jerry McDonald of the Bay Area News Group. “A lot of positive energy coming from everybody in there. The great part about it is you have a lot of ex-players, so I think that energy is kind of innately there, because you have a lot of fiery guys, a lot of guys that have played in the NFL at a high level so they have that natural energy. . . . It’s been great to talk to ‘em and kind of see their vision. I think it’s going to be a great year for us.”
The vibe would be even crazier if they’d landed Ndamukong Suh. But Woodson’s fine with the fact that didn’t work out.
“There’s no question that Suh would have been huge,” Woodson said. “He would have been huge. He would have been a great addition to the team. But at the same time, if you don’t get a Suh, you can get three or four other players to make up for it. And what that does is build depth. So you bring in guys that are possibly starters, that will compete for a starting job, and then we’ve still got money to get three or four other guys. Then you’ve got the draft coming up. So you have the potential to build the team the way you want to. Just because you didn’t get the one guy, we’ll have the opportunity to build this team the right way and that’s what [G.M. Reggie McKenzie’s] looking at.”
The fans hope to be looking at a better team, too. Even if the folks in Oakland are only looking at the team for one more year.