A lot of times you hear a head coach talk about one of his impressive rookies and say, “The game is not too big for him.”
Raiders coach Tom Cable said the opposite about number seven overall pick Darrius Heyward-Bey Tuesday after the rookie’s two drop, zero catch debut.
“I thought I saw a real nervous uptight young man, a lot of big eyes, Cable said. “As I’ve mentioned to them, they’ll have their highs and their lows as they go through this thing. We’ll expect him to be better next week. . . . He has to learn how to handle this. No question.”
A shaky start is no crime for a rookie wideout and no one should be saying that DHB is a bust yet. But the Raiders would ideally have have their rookie learning the game while not in the starting lineup.
Unfortunately, Chaz Schilens is hurt and Cable wants Javon Walker to “run fast” before they let him play. (We agree with Cable; running fast is helpful for a wide receiver.)
At least the Raiders have found a good-looking rookie wideout that is ready to contribute right away -- fourth-round pick Louis Murphy.
Murphy had four grabs for 87 yards and a touchdown against San Diego, and he would have had more if not for an extremely questionable overturned call on a would-be 19-yard touchdown.
Murphy’s excellent play raises an interesting question. When Schilens is ready to return, will the Raiders bench Heyward-Bey in favor of his rookie teammate who received $20 million less guaranteed?
Since Cable isn’t afraid to bench Walker, we’re going to guess hope the answer is yes.
UPDATE: Rotoworld/PFT’s Evan Silva helpfully points out that Cable expects Schilens to take snaps from Murphy, not Heyward-Bey, since DHB traditionally plays split end. (The other two play flanker. JaMarcus Russell was 0-of-10 throwing to wideouts other than Murphy in the opener.)
