Drafting WRs in the 1st round is usually the biggest risk in the draft. Easy to measure athleticism, hard to measure heart and a desire to succeed by taking hits over the middle.

that the Raiders continually pay to be a worse team. Lelie’s numbers in the last two years combined are worse in all categories than his last year with Denver and that was far from a good year.

….makes mistakes in the draft. Look at Janikowski and Gallery. That said, Walker and Lelie both made the same mistake in Denver – they thought they could whine their way into being the number one wide out.
That said, every one knows about Walker’s situation. Lelie’s talent was speed and decent hands, but he was a total wimp in the middle. He might actually create some havoc catching the long ball from Russell. Maybe his years in Atlanta and San Francisco were wasted because neither team had a passing game.

that AFTER Denver throws out the trash Al pickss thru and thinks he can better with it.

He had value and he did have four years of production in Denver.

In his rookie year (2002) he had 525 yards and 628 in his second. His third year he came out big with 1084 yds from 54 receptions. His average was over 20yds per catch. When McCaffery retired at the end of the 03 season, Lelie was the #2 wideout. I would say he was a fair risk as a first rounder and showed promise at that point. Then the trouble began.

In his 4th yr in 2005, he had 42 catches for 770 yards (18.3 ypc) , but he missed three games due to injury. In all 4 years in Denver, he never had more yards than Rod Smith who was still the #1 wideout. I could probably make a case that had he not dropped so many balls, he would have had more catches and yards than Rod Smith. His rep grew as a guy that was dropping more and more passes.

During the 2006 Draft, Denver made a shocking trade with Green Bay for Javon Walker. It was obvious that Rod Smith wouldn’t play forever, and Denver needed more of a threat than what they had with Lelie. Ashlie Lelie didn’t like this senario and held out on his contract in 2006. He flat refused to play because he wasn’t going to be a starter. He was under contract and by all rights shoud have been dropped and not traded, but he sat out and eventually was traded to Atlanta in August 06. Denver got in a 3 way deal that involved the redskins.

In the end, Denver got a 3rd rd pick in 07 and a 4th rd pick in 08. So to challenge Raider Pete’s assesment, I wouldn’t say that Denver blew their draft pick on Lelie. Especially that since he left denver his production has dropped enormously.

In Atlanta, Lelie caught 28 passes for 430 yards. At the end of the year with Atlanta in 2006, Lelie bought out his last year of contract with the Falcons to become a free agent in March 2007.

He signed with SF 49ers in 07 and had a total of 10 catches for 115 yards. The 49ers cut him last weekend. Lelie has gone down hill in a hurry, but Al Davis has saved him. Perhaps he didn’t know Walker was playing in Oakland. I wonder if he is ok with being second fiddle to Javon this time around?

Also, I don’t think that people are ripping the Raiders for paying cash for Lelie, but just the fact that the Raiders would want him. Good luck, but I think Denver got use from him and salvaged some value over what should have been a bust.