Lance Johnstone Aaron Brooks

Got something to say?Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article!Remember that trivial wide receiver, John Stone, who saw plenty of preseason playing time with Oakland from 2003 to 2005? Well, I'm not talking about him.The man I'm referring to is Lance Johnstone-Oakland's second-round draft selection in the 1996 draft. Maybe you have heard his name卲lenty of NFL quarterbacks have.Johnstone played with the from 1996 to 2000. In his time with the Silver and Black, the 6'4, 250-pound defensive end compiled 29 sacks and 198 tackles before his release at the turn of the century. Since then, the Temple alumnus has been wreaking havoc on the defensive front of the Minnesota Vikings. From 2001 on, Johnstone has racked up 41 sacks and 168 tackles-crafting career totals of 70 sacks and 366 tackles, along with 20 pass deflections and two interceptions.Flanking the Aaron Brooks acquisition, bringing Johnstone back to the lineup is the team's highest impact offseason move. Taken as a whole, the pickup could help the team even more than the signing of Brooks.Alongside the 2005 NFL sack king, Derrick Burgess, Johnstone should thrive in the quarterback takedown category in 2006-a category that he has consistently produced in throughout his entire career. For the past four seasons, he has racked up at least seven sacks or more and, in his ten-year career, has four seasons with ten or more sacks.But bringing Johnstone to the table will not only ensure more sacks in 2006, it will also help to relieve the defensive duties of several other positions-namely the other defensive end spot and the cornerback and safety positions.Last season, Derrick Burgess was all but alone on the Raiders' defensive line. Behind his 16 sacks, the closest defender to that total was Warren Sapp with five. Just under Sapp was Tommy Kelly with 4.5; however, after Kelly there is a tremendous drop-off, with no Raider having over two sacks. With Johnstone opposite the gallant number 56, the Raiders should be able to benefit from two 10+ sack seasons from each player. Throw a healed Warren Sapp, budding Tommy Kelly, and veteran Bobby Hamilton into the mix, and Oakland can finally sit comfortably on the defensive facade.And Nnamdi Asomugha almost certainly cracked a smile at the news. Finally, the opposing quarterback won't have the comforting setting of a four-star hotel when sitting in the pocket. Look for it to be more like a Motel 6 in 2006. Except the slogan won't be "We'll Leave the Light on for You." It will be a more like: "We'll knock the living daylight out of you."Especially on third down-a down that Oakland has consistently sleepwalked their way through for the past three seasons. Last season, only five clubs were worse off on defense than Oakland in the third-down efficiency column. Their opponents converted their third-chance opportunity into another four downs 40.7% of the time. In 2004, Oakland ranked last in the NFL in the same category-allowing a 47.4 conversion rate.So it's not a mystery why Al Davis and his staff went out and pursued possibly the best remaining free agent left on the market. Much like Derrick Burgess, Johnstone is a situational defender, and most of the time the "situation" is that last play before the punt or go-for-it option.And most of the time, the offense opts to punt.Enter Randy Moss and friends.