The Duke of Oakland: Raiders Sign Calhoun
The Oakland Raiders announced today that they have signed free agent wide receiver Duke Calhoun, formerly of the Giants. Calhoun spent 2010 and 2011 on the team after making the team as an undrafted rookie out of Memphis. He has one reception as an NFL player, which came in the 2010 season. The Duke also recorded 7 special teams tackles in 2010.
Calhoun has good size for a wide receiver (6’2″ 195lbs.) and seems to have the physical tools to play in this league. According to NFL Draft Scout he has recorded a 40 time as low as 4.42 which gives him the kind of speed that continues to be coveted by the Raiders, even as Reggie McKenzie takes the reins of this organization.
Calhoun had a pretty good college career out in Memphis, making 212 receptions for 2,981 yards and 19 touchdowns. His best season as a Tiger was his senior year, in which he caught 68 passes for 923 and 5 touchdowns in 12 games.
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Special teamer if anything. Raiders are too deep at WR for him to see any real playing time.
I dont know about that jesse. Chaz is gone, T.J is not coming back, Murphy needs to be traded on draft day!!!
Traded on draft day? For what, a 7th round pick? He’s much more valuable to the Raiders than any other team out there. The Duke is basically a camp body for now, but if he shows up and goes above and beyond from now ’til August/September, who knows…
i agree that Murphy could hardly bring much in a trade, but I think the point is that this guy could play a role as a wide receiver. Heck, the guy they cut for TJ was contributing more than did TJ, why not this guy? With that kind of speed, and if he has honed his craft for three years in the league he might move up to fourth on the depth chart which is pretty significant playing time as we saw with all the injuries last year.
The Raiders top 4 WRs are pretty much set with Moore, Ford, DHB and Murphy. This offseason and training camp will be the rest fighting for the final 5th and 6th WR spot on the team. Unless Murphy gets injured or has a tremendously poor camp, he’ll be on the team. If another WR steps up and performs out of his mind, the Raiders might say to DHB, “You’re going to have to restructure or we might have to let you go.” But like I said, some dark horse must play out of his mind to move in front of DHB.
DHB is the one that has to play out of his mind to keep his starts. I’m sure he can feel the heat from the young fast pups licking their chops.