On Thursday, it was announced that left guard Robert Gallery was not returning to Oakland either. As a fan of Gallery, I was slightly disappointed. I loved his long and messy hair, this tattoo-filled arms, his "Raider Swagger" attitude. However, I continued to read the article and realized that his appearance was not worth what he was asking.
Gallery, a good player, was asking for $8 million—way too much for a player that only played in 14 games in his last two seasons. In addition to Gallery being incredibly injury prone, his replacement, Daniel Loper, was able to step in nicely and help the Raider Nation forget the fact that our best offensive lineman was out with yet another injury.
To go with both of our guards not being expected to return, center Samson Satele has been on the hot seat for most of his career. He has great potential, but has difficulty dealing with the larger defensive tackles in the league.
Being in the AFC West, with two of the three defensive schemes having their biggest defensive tackle line up right across him, he has to learn to stand his ground. After two seasons, Satele has not shown that he's capable of doing what he was expected to do.
Satele was temporarily replaced by 6'8" rookie Jared Veldheer. After miscommunication with the quarterbacks and weak left tackle play, Veldheer was kicked outside and told to block the blind side of Jason Campbell and Bruce Gradkowski.
Not a terrific player, Veldheer held his own and served as a good enough left tackle. However, with shorter than normal arms and not enough speed to block off the speed rushers, Veldheer will not have a long career at left tackle.
On t...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
