Bee staff writer Jason Jones is at Raiders training camp in Napa. Read his blogs throughout the day at www.sacbee.com/blogs. The following are excerpts from Friday's blogs:
Lane Kiffin's time at USC has a direct impact on how he looks for free agents.
Linebacker Jon Alston was picked up last year because Kiffin remembered Alston running down Reggie Bush from behind.
So the arrival of wide receiver Todd Watkins this offseason makes sense. Watkins, a seventh-round pick by Arizona in 2006, was claimed off waivers from Atlanta.
Watkins has been making highlight-reel catches all of training camp. And his work in Napa isn't the first time Kiffin has seen Watkins show up big.
"He's made a number of plays for us down the field on balls," Kiffin said. "We played (BYU) at 'SC his junior year, and he had a great junior season, was all over the field, beat us on a deep ball. The only deep ball we gave up all year was him. He does make a lot of down-the-field plays, and he's great to have around. He's been here the whole offseason working really hard."
Assuming the Raiders keep six wide receivers, Watkins appears to be in a three-man race for two spots.
• Greg Wesley is practicing again, but he is on pace to be this year's Donovin Darius.
Right now, Jarrod Cooper is looking good with the second-team defense at safety. Rookie Tyvon Branch hasn't shown up as much as Cooper, but his kick return skills make him a keeper.
Cooper is also a big part of special teams.
Is there a place on the roster for a fifth safety who doesn't play on special teams? That would be very unlikely.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.