Raiders' Safety Huff On Thin Ice

Oakland’s first-round pick from ’06 draft may find himself cut before the end of training camp

After three underwhelming seasons, rumors out of Alameda indicate that Michael Huff may be playing for his job when training camp opens.

And he may not make it all the way through.

Sources are telling ProFootballWeekly.com that "Al Davis is willing to cut maligned Raiders (safety) Michael Huff if he doesn’t show improvement in the near future." The piece speculates that if Huff does not win a starting position in training camp, he's likely to be released.

Huff at one point looked like he might blossom into a somewhat average player. He started all 16 games as a rookie in 2006 after being drafted #7 overall, and managed to drag Matt Leinart down for safety in the Arizona game.

The following season, Huff had an interception, a fumble recovery, and a sack -- but not much else. In 2008, Huff was benched in favor of Hiram Eugene after posting a measly 12 tackles through the first five games.

It's probably not a good thing when even your Raiders.com bio page lists primarily your high school and college achievments.

Huff will go into training camp competing with Eugene, Tyvon Branch, and new draftee Michael Mitchell for the safety position. 

If he does poorly, then he'll be competing with Matt Leinart and Ernie Sims for the "biggest bust of the 2006 NFL Draft" position.

Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who hopes that any further discussion of "draft" and "bust" will be on the topic of beer.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us