It wasn’t until late Wednesday night, the eve of the Raiders training camp, that Oakland was able to reach a deal with their first-round 2010 NFL Draft pick Rolando McClain.

As of now, the linebacker out of Alabama, is the highest signed draft selection being chosen as number 8 overall. Last week, number 24 draft pick Dez Bryant signed with the Dallas Cowboys and just Wednesday morning, number 25 draft pick Devin McCourty signed with the New England Patriots.

The Oakland Raiders training camp begins Thursday, July 29, but it wasn’t known whether or not the newly signed linebacker would be able to make it to training camp to join the team on Thursday.

Now that the Raiders have signed McClain, they have successfully signed all nine of their draft choices from this year. The contract is a five-year deal worth $40 million with $23 million of that guaranteed, as reported by ESPN.

The Raiders went for McClain in the 2010 NFL Draft in order to strengthen their run defense in hopes of ranking higher than last year, at which time they ranked 29th. They wasted no time in proclaiming McClain as their starting linebacker by trading starter Kirk Morrison on the draft’s second day to Jacksonville.

McClain was the top college linebacker at Alabama for which he won the Butkus Award and recorded an impressive 105 tackles. During his time at Alabama, McClain recorded 275 tackles, 5 interceptions, 8 sacks, and 31 ½ tackles in his 37 career starts.

The Raiders as well as fans ultimately hope that McClain can help them achieve some high goals. Since 2002, Oakland has lost a minimum of 11 games during a seven-year time span making them have the second-worst NFL record at 29-83. The issue that Oakland has had is being able to successfully stop runs so hopefully with the addition of McClain, as well as John Henderson, Lamarr Houston, and Kamerion Wimbley, who they also added to improve their run defense, they can start doing so.

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