Oakland Raiders Depth Chart 2012: Starters Locked In, But Backups Underwhelming

The Oakland Raiders' depth chart doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles to it. The starters, like Darren McFadden, Carson Palmer, Richard Seymour and Michael Huff, are pretty much locked in. Barring injury or catastrophic performance in the last weeks of preseason practice, there doesn't appear to be anyone in danger of losing their job.

Part of that is because the Raiders didn't add many starters from the team that went 8-8 last year. They got rid of plenty — they cut Kamerion Wimbley, Stanford Routt and Kevin Boss — but, with the exception of the signing of Matt Leinart to be Palmer's backup and the acquisition of Mike Goodson for backup o-lineman Bruce Campbell, none of Raiders' offseason moves made the splash the late Al Davis loved making so much.

The two backups most closely watched will be the quarterbacks, as Matt Leinart and Terrelle Pryor have the name recognition nationwide the other second- and third-teamers don't. In the Raiders' disappointing 3-0 loss to the Cowboys, Leinart cemented his place as the second-stringer, and developed some chemistry with undrafted rookie Rod Streater that could earn the wideout a job (he had six catches for 66 yards). Pryor, well, I'll let Levi Damien at Silver and Black Pride tell you how he's doing:

I was pretty excited to see Pryor play in this game. Not just because we had never seen him perform in an NFL football game but because I was eager for the world to see the player I had been seeing in camp the past two weeks and prior. And he didn't disappoint, as expected. That is to say, he was disappointing. At least to those who had convinced themselves he was a sleeping super star as opposed to being a third stringer who has no shot at moving up the depth chart.

[...]

I have long said Pryor most closely resembles Tim Tebow and this game showed that. I mean, minus him running it for a touchdown. Pryor may "run like a deer" as Mike Mitchell put it, but he was more of a deer in headlights in this game. Too many times, he made one read and got happy feet. He finished 8 for 15 passing with the game ending interception for a QB rating of 32.6. I thought he would at least break out with a big play with his legs in this game but he didn't even do that.

For more on the Oakland Raiders, join the discussion over at Silver And Black Pride. You can also check out everything we have to offer at SB Nation's NFL hub.