Some things are just obvious regardless of the ultimate outcome just like I knew from the jump Hue Jackson made a horrendous error in failing to discipline Rolando McClain.

Jackson didn’t need to wait until an Alabama judge threw book at McClain to know the underachieving middle linebacker was guilty of any crime. McClain’s infamous arrest photo proved he was guilty of being selfish, ignorant and unconcerned. All of those offenses were worthy of some form of punishment outside of the court ruling.

It was Jackson’s haphazard decision to allow McClain to play that likely went a long way in his dismissal. During his first and possibly only season as a head coach Jackson displayed the makings of a leader without a sense of community. He routinely made decisions in a vacuum once Al Davis was no longer around, acting like a god of football when in reality he was a mere mortal.

Reggie McKenzie’s firing of Jackson combined with a lack of job prospects has hopefully taught Hue a lesson.

Sometimes winning isn’t everything even in the bottom line business of pro football. Sometimes doing the right thing for the team is better than doing the selfish thing for the head coach.

For the record Jackson’s decision to allow McClain to play both immediately after his arrest and for the duration of the season didn’t do much for the Raiders. Oakland still crumbled like a stale cookie with their McClain-led defense clearing the path to another .500 season. The Raiders were no better with McClain than they would have been without him. And for good measure Jackson saw his playoff hopes vanish when he threw McClain under the bus for failing to cover All-Galaxy receiver Calvin Johnson at a crucial point in a critical game.

McClain never stood a chance at covering Megatron just as Jackson never stood a chance of coaching in Oakland again the second he threw his entire team under the bus once the season finished.

Now here are the Raiders at the crossroads with a player that won’t be playing for them for a period of time either due to a jail sentence or a league-mandated suspension. All the while the franchise folded its arms, happy to let McClain play despite his obvious shortcomings as a leader. Thanks for that, Hue Jackson. No wonder the Raiders set an NFL record in penalties on Jackson’s watch. The lack of discipline was just that bad.

Jackson didn’t need to wait for a judge to decide if McClain had done wrong. By being involved in a bad situation McClain had proven himself wrong and deserved to have his football privileges revoked.

For McKenzie it was a simple decision to rid the franchise of Jackson. Same should go for McClain. No need to wait for the appeals process to play out. We already know all there is to learn of McClain.

Criner made a handful of great catches, creating a buzz among his teammates. Included was a 50-yard catch from Carson Palmer against DeMarcus Van Dyke and Tyvon Branch in which he tumbled into the end zone, and a 55-yard sideline heave from Terrelle Pryor against cornerback Pat Lee.

On one play, Criner reached back and made a difficult catch of a ball Pryor threw behind him.

“He saved Carson, he saved myself, he saved Matt (Leinart),” Pryor said. “He’s a player. He catches everything that comes near him.”

Criner was taken No. 168 overall. That’s 20 picks lower than Oakland got Denarius Moore in 2011. Moore caught 33 passes for 618 yards and five touchdowns.

“He has a thing for the ball once the ball’s in the air,” Moore said. “That’s what we like about him.”

Coach Dennis Allen is pleased with Criner’s learning curve.

“I think every day he gets a little bit better,” Allen said. “He’s learning more what to do. I was pleased with the way he practiced today. It’s not a whole lot different than what we saw on tape in college. That’s what we expect of him.”

Palmer had Criner’s ear as the two walked off the practice field.

“He said, ‘That right there sets the standard,’ ” Criner said. “You expect nothing less of yourself.”

Allen spent much of the practice observing, a stark contrast from hands-on coaches such as Jon Gruden

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and Hue Jackson.

“You want to declare your expectations, what you expect out of (the coaches) and then you want to get out of the way and let them work,” Allen said. “That’s kind of my style, and that’s what I’ll do. But I’m a coach at heart, and I’ll get my hands dirty when I need to.”

When Allen did step in, more often than not it was with the defense with coordinator Jason Tarver.

“It’s different having a head coach watching everything you do,” defensive tackle Tommy Kelly said. “We’ll run a play, and coach Tarver will make his point, then Allen will add his point. It’s like having two defensive coordinators.”

Wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey had a message for fans regarding his recent drunken-driving arrest.

“I just kind of regret bringing bad attention to the team, for the most part,” Heyward-Bey said. “Want to let the fans know that I’m here, working hard, trying to get on the same page with Carson and looking forward to the season.”

Heyward-Bey’s attorney, Ivan Golde, said he will plead not guilty.

The Raiders’ restructured personnel department includes Joey Clinkscales as director of player personnel, Shaun Herock as director of college scouting, Teddy Atlas as scouting coordinator and Tom Delaney as director of football administration.

College scouts are Calvin Branch, Zack Crockett, Mickey Marvin, David McCloughan, Brad Kaplan, Raleigh McKenzie and Trey Scott, while the pro scouts are Larry Marmie and Dane Vandernat.

Delaney, Branch, Crockett, Marvin and McCloughan are holdovers.

Players who were not in attendance at the voluntary OTA included defensive tackle Richard Seymour, who typically does not attend OTAs, and middle linebacker Rolando McClain, who is dealing with legal issues stemming from misdemeanor charges including illegal discharge of a firearm in Decatur, Ala.

Also missing were kickers Sebastian Janikowski and Shane Lechler and safety Mike Mitchell, who has a knee issue.

He knew it. He didn’t know what to do about it. He helped to cause it, and the Raiders’ traditional midseason chaos didn’t help any of it, either.

After the abrupt, controversial end to Pryor’s Ohio State career, his selection by the Raiders in the supplemental draft and his five-game NFL suspension, Pryor remained a 2011 afterthought.

“I didn’t know anything last year, nothing at all,” Pryor said after a Raiders full-team workout this week.

“I came in last year at the end of camp, and everything was already put in. I couldn’t ask the coach, the offensive coordinator.

“We didn’t even have a quarterbacks coach, so I couldn’t even learn anything from that standpoint. So this is definitely a blessing, and this is in God’s hands.”

The blessing, for Pryor, is that he has an offseason to digest NFL life and finally has a quarterbacks coach (John DeFilippo) to grind through the technical details with him.

But beyond that, Pryor just looks and sounds so much more assured and comfortable as a Raider in 2012 than he ever did in 2011.

During the practice, Pryor moved easily from drill to drill alongside Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart and threw some nice balls with a tight, easy motion.

Then Pryor showed up for the media availability period, making direct eye contact and giving direct, expansive answers.

For perspective, last year Pryor was on the field for one play — which was wiped out by penalty — and was available for media interaction about as often.

So, a relaxed Pryor, speaking at length … is definitely a significant development.

“Carson is the starter, and he’s going to be the starter,” Pryor said of the Raiders’ QB hierarchy. “But I don’t put myself as I’m going to be a backup …

“Carson’s always played well and always will. Whenever the opportunity comes for me to play, I’ll play. But I’m not planning to be a backup. Get that correct.”

Pryor frequently mentioned that Palmer has been a big help to him and said that Leinart has only added to the chemistry.

No doubt, all three QBs can identify with each other –all three were enormously successful college QBs who have had interesting bumps along their NFL paths.

The important thing is that Pryor’s work ethic has been lauded by new coach Dennis Allen, when Allen and new general manager Reggie McKenzie could’ve written Pryor off as a failed project of the Hue Jackson/Al Davis era.

By the way, Palmer vouches for Pryor’s work ethic, too.

“It’s fun to be around a young guy like that,” Palmer said, “that’s champing at the bit to get in there and get reps and wants to steal your reps and wants to get in there and compete.”

Pryor, who turns 23 next month, flashed a little of his competitive nature when a reporter mentioned that the three seem to have very different skill sets.

Let’s see, Leinart is familiar with offensive coordinator Greg Knapp’s West Coast system, Pryor is a great runner, and Palmer has the big arm …

“I’ve got a big arm too,” Pryor said. “A big arm. I just happen to be able to run and that just adds on to my arsenal.”

DeFilippo, the QB coach, will be the key ingredient here. Pryor said he’s in constant communication with his position coach and has already fine-tuned his footwork.

Last year, Pryor lost his Ohio State coaching support and came to the Raiders, where there was no specific coach assigned to him.

“I didn’t know what I was getting into coming in here,” Pryor said. “It’s definitely great that Mr. McKenzie got a quarterback coach because I’m learning a lot.”

Starkly, Pryor exists as one of the franchise’s last links to Davis — he was Al Davis’ final draft pick and has all the height-size-speed tools Davis always cherished.

Pryor says that he and Davis used to have regular phone conversations in the months before Davis’ death.

“Just a couple times a week — he would just tell me he believed in me and stuff like that,” Pryor said.

“That drives me. Because the last pick — the last pick may not mean anything. I might not mean nothing to anybody.

“But to me, you know, it kind of felt like — last pick of a guy that made a legacy of football … I mean, that’s special.”

Al is gone, but Pryor is still here, and now he’s actually visible on the field and audible in public. It’s an immense step, after the controversy, the chaos and the phantom season.

The possibility of a 3-4 front seven defense raises one immediate question, who will play nose tackle? In order for a 3-4 defense to be successful, there are two very important things that must be present. First, there must be good depth at linebacker since the linebacker position’s importance increases in a 3-4 scheme. Second, there needs to be a dominant nose tackle that can eat up blocks at the line of scrimmage so that the linebackers can run free. The Raiders do not have any prototypical nose tackles, but when asked who on the Raiders would play NT, Allen pointed to Tommy Kelly. Now, Kelly has had an opportunity to provide his thoughts on the idea of playing NT for the Raiders this season.

Typically, an NFL nose tackle needs to be a dominant presence physically. Due to having one less lineman up front, a defensive tackle must eat up blockers at a higher rate than a defensive tackle in a 4-3 front seven. As a result, the prototypical nose tackle will be a massive physical specimen, something like what Tommy Kelly used to be, before he lost 30 plus pounds upon the arrival of Richard Seymour.

When asked about the possible move to nose tackle, Kelly first made it clear that he would not be putting the weight back on if they asked him to move to NT. “If he sees (me being) a 3-4 nose, I ain’t trying to get that big. I ain’t trying to gain all that weight. I’ve done went through that, being 340, 350 pounds. That really ain’t my cup of tea. I ain’t trying to gain all that weight.”

Ever since Kelly lost all of that weight, he has been playing much better. Some of the improved play is undoubtedly due to playing next to a guy like Seymour, but a large part of his play is also due to the weight he lost. Therefore, it makes sense that Kelly would not want to put the weight back on and return to the days of underachieving. But, if he were asked to play NT without putting on the weight, Kelly thinks he could do that just fine.

When asked why he would not balk at playing nose tackle when many defensive tackles do not like making such a move, Kelly responded that it was because those guys were not physical enough and did not have the right mentality. Kelly discussed how playing interior defensive line, you need to get used to being hit on every play. If you cannot do that, then you cannot play NT. For Kelly, it’s all he thinks about, how he can get his body on as many guys up front as possible. So, for him, playing nose tackle would be no different than playing defensive tackle, just more guys for him to get his body on.

“Obviously with the draft that just occurred these guys are going to try to fill out what they have on their roster first. Go through the minicamps, the OTAs and see what they have in their barn already. I’m on the outside looking in,” Owens conceded.

In an interview that will air on KGMZ-FM in San Francisco on Monday, Owens also told Brandon Tierney & former 49ers cornerback Eric Davis that he has “parted ways” with former agent Drew Rosenhaus, and right now has no representation.

The record-setting wide receiver, who last played for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2010 (when he caught 72 passes for 983 yards and nine touchdowns), was asked if he would have been a better fit with the 49ers than Randy Moss.

“Would I have loved to have ended my career there, obviously signing a one- or two-year deal, absolutely. … It is what it is at this point. I don’t make those decisions and they were well aware I was out there so they felt they had the best man on their roster.”

Owens was spotted recently working out with Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer.

“There’s really only one team left in the Bay Area who I haven’t played for that really at this point in time is a viable option and that’s the Oakland Raiders,” he said. “Given the opportunity if that’s on their radar for me to come in and help them win some ball games and ultimately help them try to win a championship then I’ll take that challenge on. I definitely feel I have a lot of football left in me. I think Carson knows that.”

Last preseason Jones put on a show against the New Orleans Saints that had Cris Collinsworth making Chris Johnson comparisons.

Yeah, I realize that in the preseason Kyle Boller also looked like an NFL quarterback. Things change when it gets real and nothing is more of a wakeup call than the speed of regular season NFL action.

Still, you can’t deny what Jones brings to the table.

We constantly hear the term change-of-pace-back when Jones is being described. He’s absolutely in the third-down/scat back category but to me Jones could be so much more.

Given all of the weapons the Raiders have on offense imagine the things you could do with Jones, Darren McFadden and Jacoby Ford all on the field at the same time. Just the threat of having to pick your poison creates pre-snap advantages few teams have in this league.

As mentioned at the top of this piece Jones does have his shortcomings. So it will be on Greg Knapp to figure out the best way to get Jones involved. It will also be beneficial to McFadden’s health if he can take a few extra plays off with an expanded role for Jones.

For Knapp it will be all about getting creative. Jones is more than just a Darren Sproles type. He can be utilized in a multitude of ways other than screens and draws. Split Jones out wide and you’ll likely get a favorable matchup with a linebacker trying to keep Taiwan in front of him. Line up McFadden in the Wildcat with Jones at his side. Suddenly the defense has a real dilemma on its hands.

Whatever it takes just get Jones more involved. Even as a decoy he has real value.

At this point you get the feel that the only thing standing in Oakland’s way to becoming an elite NFL offense is…well…Oakland itself. With all the rules favoring the offense there is no excuse for the Raiders to not be one of the top 5 producing offenses in the league. Getting Jones more involved with certainly help propel Oakland into the elite level of NFL offenses.

The team later confirmed the signing. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Schmitt played under Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Knapp for the Seattle Seahawks during the 2009 season and worked out for the Raiders on Tuesday afternoon.

Marcel Reece has started 26 games at fullback for the Raiders over the last two seasons, but he has yet to sign his exclusive rights free-agent tender and isn’t participating in the team’s voluntary workouts.

Schmitt was a fifth-round draft pick out of West Virginia by the Seahawks in 2008. He started two of his 30 games over two seasons with the Seahawks before being released prior to the start of the 2010 season.

Schmitt was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2010 following a season-ending knee injury to Leonard Weaver, his former teammate with the Seattle Seahawks.

Over a 61-game career, Schmitt has nine carries for 27 yards and 34 receptions for 218 yards and two touchdowns, and has made 14 tackles on special teams.

During a five-hour trial, Rishard Tapscott testified that McClain fired a gun next to his ear after pointing it at his head. Decatur Municipal Judge Bill Cook convicted the 22-year-old of third-degree assault, menacing, reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm in city limits. McClain was also fined $2,000.

McClain was found guilty of four criminal charges, each carrying a 45-day jail sentence, as reported by the Associated Press. He was released on bail.

McClain’s attorney, Harvey Steinberg, said he plans to appeal the verdict and seek a jury trial.

“I wanted to put this on so we could show how ridiculous this entire situation is,” Steinberg said after Cook’s ruling. “It truly is. There’s no basis for it. Our feeling was that we should go through it so we could put out there that Rolando did very little, if anything, wrong. He certainly didn’t do anything criminal.”

Earlier this week, the Decatur Daily released a composite video that was submitted anonymously and claims to show the alleged incident.

“It’s obvious that McClain has been edited out of parts of it, but it matches up perfectly with (the victim)’s statements of it,” attorney Carl Cole said. “I think this shows that there may be cracks in Willingham and McClain’s circle of friends. They may not all be willing to hide what happened that night.”

Cook did not allow the prosecution to introduce the video in the case.

Another man, Jarodiaus Willingham, pled guilty to third-degree assault for the incident and received a 90-day jail sentence.

“I hate that this took place but I’m glad about him being found guilty because it shows that I wasn’t lying,” Tapscott told the AP.

A former Alabama star and the eighth overall pick in the 2010 draft, McClain had 99 tackles and five sacks last season. He is about enter the third year of a five-year, $40 million rookie contract.

He joined a team in Oakland that was 4-2 until starter Jason Campbell got hurt. Palmer had his moments with the Raiders last season, but ultimately the team played poorly down the stretch and missed the playoffs at 8-8. Add that all up, and the Bengals have to feel like they decisively won their trade with Oakland.

Palmer feels like both sides won.

“It was time to move on and it was time for them to move on and they’re in a better place and I’m definitely in a better place,” Palmer said Monday on the Dan Patrick Show.

The Bengals picked up an extra first-round pick with the Palmer trade which turned into Dre Kirkpatrick. They have a franchise quarterback in place in Andy Dalton and even better franchise receiver in A.J. Green. They are definitely in a better place, although we can’t argue with Palmer’s point: His relationship with the Bengals ran its course.

“I had put in, going on nine years, and gave everything I had and I don’t look back and regret anything. But it was time to move on,” Palmer said. “They had a young team that was an up-and-coming team. It was time for me to move on. I think in the years to come both organizations will look back and say this thing was the best thing to happen.”

Bengals fans agree. For it to be true for the Raiders, Palmer will need to lead the team back to the playoffs.

Branch returning to the Raiders this season was never in doubt. The team wanted to keep him enough to put the franchise tag on him. He wanted to stay as well. And while a hefty $6.2 million for this season is nice for Branch, a long term deal would be nicer.

Both the Raiders and Branch were holding off on signing the franchise tender in the hopes a long term deal could be reached. The hope being that he signs a long term deal which relieves the team of some 2012 cap burden as well as keeps the talented safety locked up in Oakland for a few more years.

The Raiders are currently right up against the cap and hope to sign more free agents to bolster several units that are lacking depth and role players.

On the plus side, Branch will be able to report to mandatory minicamps on time. But again, that wasn’t really in doubt. The timing of his signing the tender is not coincidental. It was the deadline for him to either sign a new deal or sign the franchise tender so as not to miss practice time.

The team has also been trying to sign fullback Marcel Reece long term and if that deal is not in the works, he should be signing his restricted free agent tender in the coming days as well.

Rookie mini camps start this week with the first OTA’s begin next week.