Two surgeries and nine months later, Javon Walker practiced. The veteran receiver looked fluid and smooth in team drills, even if he just one ball, the only ball thrown his way in team drills, on a hook route by the sidelines from Jeff Garcia.
"It feels good, being out there and obviously competing and being in there to help the younger receivers and also help myself, knowing that I can get in and out of breaks real quick and make a catch against NFL-caliber corner(back)s."
Granted, the catch came in front of John Bowie.
Coach Tom Cable said Walker looked like, "A guy kinda getting back into it. Looked a little rusty but he ran some good routes, caught some balls, looked decent in individual (workouts). We'll kind of bring him along a little more each day as we go through the week."
Cable also said he hoped to get Walker into Saturday's exhibition game against New Orleans and had to guard against pushing him to much, too soon.
Walker's 2008 season ended with ankle surgery and he underwent offseason surgery on his right knee this offseason.
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The Raiders brought back a familiar face in Monday's signing of middle linebacker Napoleon Harris, who had been traded to Minnesota in the Randy Moss deal in 2005. Cornerback Ricky Manning Jr., signed nine days ago, was cut in the corresponding roster move.
Harris, 30, was the Raiders' first-round pick out of Northwestern in 2002.
"It's a little different, a lot of new faces," said Harris, who spent three seasons with the Vikings and one with Kansas City. "It's not the same Raiders teams I played with but hopefully we can have some great results like we did the first year when I was out here."
Cable said the loss of Kirk Morrison for at least two weeks with a dislocated left elbow, along with a porous run defense against the 49ers, who ran for 275 yards on 47 carries, prompted the signing.
"Just trying to be smart there," Cable said.
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The first-team offense and first-team defense stayed away from each other in Monday's practice, as cable is attempting to simulate a regular season game week heading into Saturday's exhibition against the Saints.
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Cable said he has not heard from either the Napa Police Department or the NFL in regards to the alleged incident with assistant Randy Hanson.
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A quality little scrape went down between undrafted rookie and UC Davis product Jonathan Compas, a back-up center, and veteran defensive tackle Gerard Warren. Nice to see a little spunk from the Aggie trying to make the team with the first cuts coming on Monday.
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Another interesting scene - JaMarcus Russell running sideline-to-sideline sprints with Warren and defensive end Jay Richardson after practice.
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The players are off Tuesday and resume practice Wednesday at 3:30.
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