So last week Javon Walker, Raiders wide receiver/champagne lover/assault victim, contemplated retirement, even though he signed a shiny new six-year, $55 million deal with Oakland this spring.
Apparently, owner Al Davis talked some sense into Walker, who decided to tough it out (for now, anyway). I'm sure every player has questioned their career choice at some point (some sooner than others), but Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin is still worried about the team's No. 1 wideout.
"It caught me off guard because he's 29 years old," Kiffin said. "I'd had a couple of conversations with him, and it seemed like there might be something going on, so he came in, and sure, it was a surprise." ...All fair points. Walker is something of an enigma, burning bridges on his way out of Denver before landing in Oakland and promptly taking a beating during an offseason Vegas adventure.
"For someone to discuss retirement, and then to come back and change his mind a day later – I'm worried a lot about it," Kiffin said. "I'm worried about where he's at mentally, because these things happen sometimes and they come back up again, because maybe they come back and maybe it isn't necessarily for the right reasons, so we're going to continue to communicate with him and push him out there on the field and get him better."
It would be one thing if this were the Patriots, a team able to absorb the loss of a starter, but the Raiders are in the process of rebuilding (it's been five years and counting). If Kiffin can't count on Walker to be around, then, yeah, that's a problem. For what it's worth, Walker eagerly reassures the doubters: "I'm in a great frame of mind ... Why wouldn't I?"
And that pretty much tells you all you need to know.
