Kirk Morrison

[The P]

he was only tendered with a 3rd round pick.

 

 

i think the giants should move on him.

[jranieli]

I have no idea who he is or if he is any good? Is he worth a third rounder?

[The P]

I have no idea who he is or if he is any good? Is he worth a third rounder?

 

oakland middle linebacker

 

has started since his rookie year in 05 and has never had less than 110 tackles.

[Treehugger]

Is Linebacker Kirk Morrison Done in Oakland? by David Wilson

 

 

Written on March 04, 2010

Will Kirk Morrison be an Oakland Raider for 2010

 

The Oakland Raiders gave their strongest indication yet that Kirk Morrison might be on his way out in the East Bay by giving him an "original pick" tender in free agency.

 

That means that any team signing Morrison to an offer sheet would have to give the Raiders a third round pick. If that doesnt sound like Oakland puts much value on Morrison, its actually worse than it sounds.

 

Morrison is scheduled to make $2.5 million in 2010. So Oakland could actually have put a second round tender on his for the same money.

 

Translated, that means they are trying to get someone to make him an offer. They didnt think anyone would do it with a second round price tag, but someone might bite with only a third rounder at stake.

 

This is a very bad indicator for those hoping to see Kirk Morrison in silver and black again next season. What it effectively means is firstly that Oakland are admitting that they have a problem with run defense, and secondly that they believe Kirk Morrison is responsible, at least in part, for those problems.

 

You have to have some sympathy with Morrison, who has led the Raiders the last five years in tackles and laboured behind a sub par set of defensive tackles for the whole of that time. His detractors will say that too many of his tackles are five yards down the field, and he doesnt have the physicality to hold the point of attack.

 

Both arguments have merit, but the conclusion of this week's RFA tenders (Thomas Howard got a second round tender, Jon Condo a second, and Stanford Routt got a first and third round tender) is that Morrison is most probably gone.

 

Now this, of course, begs the question of who will replace him.

 

I cant believe that the Raiders will rely on Ricky Brown, who got a higher tender and pushed Morrison hard for the starting job in camp last year, as he has had durability issues over the last two years. Neither can I believe that Oakland will spend a top 10 pick on a middle linebacker that would most probably be a two down player.

 

Neither Rolando McLain or Brandon Spikes stood out with enough athleticism at the combine to look like every down players.

 

Outside of the first round, Oakland might target tackling machine Pat Angerer of Iowa, but there isnt a great deal of depth at the middle linebacker position in this years draft.

 

If Kirk Morrison is on the way out, the Raiders must have a plan, right?

[Treehugger]

Stats - http://www.nfl.com/players/kirkmorrison/profile?id=MOR611612

[Sephiroth]

He seems like a pretty good linebacker on some bad Oakland teams, but with a draft this deep I'm not sure someone will want to pony up a third for him.

[Storm]

Sounds like Antonio Pierce Dos

[NeMesiS]

Sir mis-a-lot-of-tackles? No thanks... The guy is schedule to make 2.5 mil next year. That's pretty cheap for a starting MLB. There's a reason why Oakland is willing to let him go.

[CrazedDogs]

Sir mis-a-lot-of-tackles? No thanks... The guy is schedule to make 2.5 mil next year. That's pretty cheap for a starting MLB. There's a reason why Oakland is willing to let him go.

 

Good assessment.

 

Conversely, this is Oakland we're talking about. Any other team and I'd say you're dead on...if anybody could screw it up and poorly assess their own players, its the Raiders.

[Taylorized56]

Morrison was pretty bad in coverage this season...arguably worse than AP. Do not want.