Darrius Heyward-Bey was drafted too high. We get it.

It seems as if not a day goes by without a story bashing us over the head with indicating that widely held opinion. And because it was so shocking to Mel Kiper Jr. and the rest of the NFL Draft talking heads that the Raiders took Heyward-Bey before Michael Crabtree or Jeremy Maclin in April, it’s become something of a running joke.

Here’s a story about Heyward-Bey dropping passes during training camp. And another. And another. (On this particular day, Heyward-Bey dropped four passes. Gasp!)

The spotlight got even brighter last week, when it was reported Crabtree was holding out with the cross-Bay 49ers because he wanted to get paid more money than Heyward-Bey. Crabtree’s reasoning: He’s better than Heyward-Bey according to the analysts, even if he was picked lower.

I asked Terp quarterback Chris Turner, who has a unique perspective on the situation as DHB’s college QB and a lifelong Raiders fan, about this storyline that just won’t go away.

“Put it this way. If Crabtree has signed by now and made that much money, Darrius wouldn’t be holding out of camp,” Turner said at Monday’s media day. “Love him or hate him, Al Davis and the Raiders, it’s a business. They know what they’re doing. They’re not just drafting guys just for the hell of it. They have a plan for him.”

Turner on the perception of Heyward-Bey purely as a speed-receiver:

“They wouldn’t have the combine if those things didn’t matter. I mean you have a 6-3 receiver who happens to run a 4.3 40, you’re not gonna not draft him if you can. The Raiders have a quarterback who has the best arm in the NFL, who can throw the ball 90 yards. [Jamarcus Russell] is just going to throw the ball up to Darrius. Darrius can run by anybody. It’s as simple as that.”

On the constant criticism and inescapable comparisons to Crabtree Heyward-Bey will face:

“It’s gonna be that way until he actually does something. $35 million is a lot of money and it’s hard to justify paying someone that much unless they’re producing.”

Aaron Kraut is The Diamondback’s sports editor. He can be reached at akrautdbk@gmail.com.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 4:38 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.