National Football League

Change at QB is big one for Raiders

Published Jul. 29, 2010 7:17 p.m. ET

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The biggest change for the Oakland Raiders was evident when Jason Campbell walked out of the first huddle as the starting quarterback.

With the JaMarcus Russell era firmly in the past following his offseason release, the Raiders are preparing for a new season with a quarterback they believe can take them back to the postseason after seven years of losing.

''I feel we've got a good guy, a dependable guy, a guy who's going to work hard, who will be there for us every day,'' receiver Chaz Schilens said Thursday. ''He's not going to shy away from anything. You know what to expect. You know where the balls are going to be. That's really all you can ask for as receivers, a dependable guy that's going to go out and work hard every day. So we have that now.''

As happy as the Raiders are with their new quarterback, Campbell is looking forward to a chance to start over after five rough seasons in Washington.

He started 52 games for Washington since being a first-round pick in 2005. He has thrown for 55 touchdowns, 38 interceptions and has a passer rating of 82.3 in his career. Campbell has been sacked 102 times since the start of the 2007 season, tied for third most in the NFL in that span behind Ben Roethlisberger and David Garrard.

Campbell is coming off his best season, completing 64.5 percent of his passes with 20 touchdowns, 15 interceptions and a passer rating of 86.4. But the Redskins went 4-12 last season and new coach Mike Shanahan brought in Donovan McNabb to take over from Campbell.

''I'll tell you my first five years in Washington, we went through a lot of highs, a lot of lows,'' Campbell said. ''I went through some different changes there. A lot, each and every year. Coming here is kind of like being drafted all over again. It's a new start. Oakland is trying to turn it around. They're trying to become a new team. They made a lot of changes, and I think they're trying to do things the right way and get it going in the right direction.''

The biggest addition was Campbell. But the Raiders also bolstered their run defense by taking middle linebacker Rolando McClain and defensive end Lamarr Houston with their first two draft picks, acquired two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle John Henderson and outside linebacker Kamerion Wimbley to help even more on defense and hired high-energy offensive coordinator Hue Jackson to help inject some life into a struggling unit.

That has added some needed optimism to a franchise that has lost at least 11 games for an NFL-record seven straight seasons.

''Right now there's an uproar around the team,'' running back Darren McFadden said. ''People are looking forward to a new quarterback, a new offensive coordinator, so he's going to bring different things to the offense. The new quarterback is a great leader. He gets back there and takes control so we're looking forward to getting out there and seeing what we can put together.''

Coach Tom Cable named Campbell the starter the day before the start of training camp, wanting to make sure it was clear who would lead the offense. He said the main things he is counting on from Campbell are the ability to protect the ball and consistency.

He praised Campbell's leadership, which has been evident in meeting rooms and on the field after practice where he spends extra time with the receivers.

''We're just real hungry and passionate for that kind of leadership,'' Cable said. ''He has been welcomed and he has taken it and run with it.''

Along with stepping into a new team, Campbell has had to learn a new offense. He has plenty of experience with that having gone through change almost every season since his college days at Auburn. He had four different offenses in four years at Auburn, then three more in five years with the Redskins. Now he is learning a new system with the Raiders.

Even though he had plenty of time with it during minicamp and OTAs, Campbell said it still is a learning process to become completely comfortable with the new system.

''Sometimes it's like speaking my second language,'' Campbell said. ''We were in a meeting the other day and coach asked me what was the protection change here and I called out one of my protections in last year's offenses when I was in Washington. But it started with the same letter. Sometimes you have to block those things out and just focus on just trying to learn these plays.''

NOTES: The Raiders released DL Ryan Boschetti and WR Damola Adeniji to get to the 80-man roster limit.

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