The Raiders, along with most every other team in the NFL, started their organized team activities (OTAs) for 2013 today.

The team can boast better attendance at their OTAs than most, if not all, other teams as every player that could attend, did, on their 90-strong roster.

That’s not to say that every player practiced – one notable exception was newly signed WR/KR Joshua Cribbs, who is still healing from an injury he sustained in 2012.  There were also two players – UDFA QB Kyle Patron and RB Deonte Williams – who weren’t allowed to come by NFL rules because their schools have yet to graduate.

Still, outside of those three, every player was out practicing today, a big accomplishment for coach Dennis Allen and his staff. One likely reason is because this year’s team, more so than any other year I can remember, has a lot of competition at a great many positions.

Here are some of the position battles to look forward to in the OTAs, mini-camps and training camps to come:

After the 2011 season, a season in which Tyler Wilson completed over 63% of his passes for 3600 yards and 24 TDs with only 6 INTs, Wilson seemed as good a candidate as any for the 2012 Heisman.

With an unexpected scandal and the ensuing firing of head coach Bobby Petrino combined with Wilson losing his top 3 targets to the NFL (Jarius Wright, Joe Adams and Greg Childs were all drafted in the 4^th round of the 2012 draft, Adams to the Panthers and Wright and Childs to the Vikings), Wilson’s chances at a Heisman or a National Championship looked substantially worse but Wilson and the others were still hopeful, as this Sports Illustrated piece in August of 2012 demonstrates.

Wilson had a solid season, completing over 62% of his passes and still throwing for over 3300 yards but the team struggled to score and went on to win only 4 games in 2012, one of the wins coming against lowly Jacksonville State University.

It was going to be interesting, therefore, to see what the tape showed about Wilson as a QB – both in 2011 and 2012.

Wilson does a great many things well – as should be expected for someone who was a possible Heisman contender and once considered a likely first round pick – but he has his struggles, too.

When the Raiders traded down with the Buccaneers in the fourth-round (they chose QB Tyler Wilson after trading down), they also picked up an extra sixth-round pick as compensation for trading down.

The pick, 181^st overall, was used to select running back Latavius Murray from Central Florida. Central Florida plays in a smaller conference in division I, Conference USA (C-USA for short). In fact, Murray had only one teammate also selected and joined only seven other players from C-USA to be drafted in 2013.  For comparison, SEC’s Alabama had nine players drafted, just by itself.

It’s safe to say that in Conference USA, Murray faced off against lesser opponents than many other schools in bigger and better conferences. This begs the question of how his success at Central Florida will translate to the NFL.

First, we’ll look Murray’s physical attributes. He is very large for a runningback (actually he’s large for just about every position except a lineman). Standing at 6’2”, 223 lbs, Murray is one of those players that “looks good coming off the bus.”

He’s also exceptionally fast. Pro days do not have official times like the Combine does but he was universally reported to have run his 40-yard dash at or just under 4.4 seconds. Some scouts reportedly had him in the 4.38 range.

While a player’s first mini-camp means almost nothing in the grand scheme of his entire career, first impressions are very important for everyone, even for NFL players.

The Raiders rookies had a chance to make a good first impression this weekend during the Raiders first 2013 mini-camp.

While we don’t know how the coaching staff feels about every prospect, some Raiders rookies made a good first impression with the assembled media – and some failed to make any impression at all.

By nature of the mini-camp not allowing contact, the winners and losers are all offensive because defenders aren’t really able to show much – especially the linebackers and defensive-linemen.

Winners:
WR Brice Butler – Butler was probably the biggest standout of the day.  The Raiders were working on 3rd down scenarios today, per head coach Dennis Allen, and that resulted in a variety of down the field passes with which Butler was able to excel.

Showing his great speed and an underrated ability to adjust to a ball in flight and put himself in a position to make some difficult passes down the field.  As a seventh round selection, Butler is no lock to make the team so making plays early will go a long way for him.

Here's a link to last year's rookie reports. Now let's get to this year's...

1st round pick: cornerback D.J. Hayden, Houston

Strengths

-Good change of direction/fluid in the hips and with his back pedal

-Past two years at Houston he’s had six interceptions, with three stealthily scooted in for TD’s

-Has good speed (ran a 4.33 40-yard dash), which would’ve probably made Al soak one of those towels of his

-Will swiftly maneuver inside/outside the receiver for a reach around

-Excellent ball skills with superb instincts

-When he gets inside your hip pocket, he’ll pick your nose as an intimidation tactic

-Makes plays as a tackler

-Masterfully swipes & swoops the football out

Weaknesses

- Although fully cleared medically, Hayden nearly died in a collision during practice last year. But you should have seen other guy

-Some scouts say he’s not physical enough on the field, even though he literally almost took one for the team

-Not typical height or arm length

-Can sometimes get boxed out on run plays

-Has been known after games to ‘pop’ 5-hour energy drinks all over the locker room

Hayden immediately makes the Raiders' secondary better, adding great depth to nice looking secondary on paper. If he can come back from his freak injury and be the difference maker the Raiders expect him to be, then this is a really good pick. As long as he comes up with some turnovers in year one he’ll not have to be Superman right away to make this pick valid.

When the Raiders took Sio Moore with the 66^th overall pick in the 2013 draft, former Raiders player and Hall of Famer Willie Brown, who was announcing for the Raiders, gave the pick as “Sio Moore, linebacker, Connecticut.”

You can watch the video of the selection, here.

However, Moore is not just a linebacker. UConn, who boasted a strong defense in 2012, used him as a defensive end at times, too.  He is a very versatile player and Raiders defensive coordinator Jason Tarver will be able to use that versatility in a number of different ways.

Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie acknowledged that they will use Moore in a variety of positions.  When he was asked, right close after the draft ended, about the pass-rush needs, he said, “We think the third-round pick, Sio, can come off the edge a bit.”

Looking at this tape, it does appear that Moore can not only come off the edge but also can play either of the outside linebacker positions well.  Here is what the tape shows for the Raiders third-round selection.

Moore has decent but not great size. He also lacks top end speed which definitely limits him in coverage.

He is willing to engage with tight ends in coverage but he will not be able to hang with faster TE’s because he lacks the ability to match the better ends’ straight-line speed.

He also struggles in space to follow his man on complicated routes and so he ends up a few steps behind his man, more than enough space for a good QB to fit a pass.

He operates much better in space when he’s in a zone scheme because he’s very good at reading and reacting.  In fact, the ability to diagnose plays and put himself in a position to be a factor is one of his biggest strengths.