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Darren McFadden is learning how to hold the ball. Well, maybe not in this picture.

Image details: Oakland Raiders Rookie Mini Camp served by picapp.com

He is big. He is strong and he runs a 4.3. A legitimate 4.3. He is Darren McFadden, the top rated running back out of the draft.

Oakland needs him badly. They need excitement. They need Darren.

Last year they drafted JaMarcus Russell number one in the draft and he sat for most of the season with contract problems. Here is a guy that threw the ball 60 yards while on his knees. He has all the properties of a great quarterback.

Throw in Lane Kiffen, a coach that somehow has the ear of Al Davis as well as his confidence and Oakland fans have to be drooling.

Will they win a lot of games this year? Probably not.

Will they have a lot of highlights this year. It sure looks like it.

Start with Darren McFadden. Everyone is comparing him to Adrian Peterson. That is a lot to put on a rookie. Hey, Darren, go out and be as good as Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings. All he did was break the single game rushing record and look like the best back since Barry Sanders played in this league.

Right now Oakland is being a bit more cautious and working on fundamentals.

But coach Lane Kiffin cautions about putting too much pressure on McFadden so early.

“He’s not here to save the franchise. He just happens to be our first pick of the draft,” Kiffin said.

One of the immediate priorities is working on McFadden’s ball security. He fumbled 15 times last season at Arkansas, although some of those came as a quarterback or kick returner as opposed to a tailback.

Rathman pointed out that McFadden carried held his elbow too far from his body when they first met before the draft last month and is working on fixing the flaw before the season.

“You’ve got to be a good fundamental football player, and that’s what we’re working on right now,” Rathman said. “Obviously, coming out of college his biggest negative was probably his ball security, so we’ve jumped on that early. He understands where we’re coming from. He’s using better technique, better decision on where he’s putting the ball at certain times. So he understands what he needs to do.”
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At some point, the season starts and Darren McFadden gets revved up and the Oakland fans will go wild.

Be sure to check out my companion blog at NBA Obsessed.

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

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NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.

Adrian is hot.

He is the favorite for rookie of the year right now.

You wonder, if the Vikes were any good, would he be up for MVP?

Oh, yes, that one game of 296 yards made an incredible impression on everyone.

Now let’s not get carried away. It is what it is, but consider the fact that Edgerrin James was 19th on the all time rushing list coming into this year with 10,385 yards and he is still playing.

Edge has 618 more this year.

Adrian leads the league with 1,036.

San Diego is 22nd in the league in defending the rush giving up 4.7 yards per game. This is not to diminish Adrian’s performance in that one game, only to give it some perspective. Read more