McFadden paying dividends for Raiders

ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Maybe the Raiders shouldn't have taken Darren McFadden in the 2008 draft. They needed defensive linemen -- they still do -- not a running back.

Maybe the Jets would have chosen McFadden. The rumors were they tried to get him, but the Jets were in the sixth slot, two behind the Raiders, and Raiders owner Al Davis, always infatuated with speed, was enamored with McFadden.

Davis, now 82, has been criticized as a man out of step with the times, but he looks as though he knew what he was doing with that pick. McFadden, after a struggling start to his career because of injuries, has been very much in step in the Raiders' offense.

He is second in the NFL in rushing with 222 yards after two games, seven fewer than Buffalo's Fred Jackson, and has eight receptions for 77 yards.

The Jets took defensive end Vernon Gholston in the 2008 first round. When they waived him in March, Gholston, who never had a sack in three seasons, was considered a bust, the same word applied early on to McFadden.

Runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in 2006 and 2007 while at Arkansas, McFadden wasn't running anywhere after he developed turf toe on his right foot, and when that improved, turf toe on his left. "It's one of the worst injuries for a running back," he said. "You can't push off, can't make cuts. It was very frustrating."

The frustration ended in his third season, 2010. McFadden finally was healthy, and Oakland brought in Hue Jackson as offensive coordinator. He even asked McFadden which plays he liked.

"OK, they're in," said Jackson, who a few months later became the Raiders' head coach.

"I have a different style than anybody else," McFadden said. "People say I run high."

He also runs quickly. His 40-yard time was 4.33 seconds, and at 6-2, 210 pounds, he's as liable to run over a defender as around him. "Sometimes," McFadden said, "I play offense with a defensive mentality. I love giving the stiff-arm and giving out some punishment."

After playing only 12 games his first two years, McFadden finally gave the offense hope in 2010. He ran 223 times for 1,157 yards -- his totals for '08 and '09 were 217 carries, 856 yards -- and said it was "as if a weight had been taken off my shoulders."

"Last year was kind of getting your feet wet and getting back into it," he said. "Just getting your confidence built back up. When a guy gets confidence and gets going, it's kind of hard to stop."

Jackson contends McFadden barely has started.

"I've said before and I'll say it again," Jackson said, "Darren McFadden is one of the most exciting players in this league, bar none. He is a tremendous football player, and he's playing good. He'll be the first to tell you he can play better . . . Our great players have to play great, and there's greatness in Darren."

Davis, in the team's glory days, could be heard on NFL Films talking about "the greatness of the Raiders." The phrase hasn't been used of late, with Oakland having gone eight straight seasons without a winning record. McFadden could help change that.

"He's a special player," quarterback Jason Campbell said of McFadden. "One of the leaders of our offense. He always wants to touch the ball, and there's a real toughness about him."