Imagine you were the fourth pick in the NFL Draft.

How would you react to the media?

Would you be timid and suggest that you were fortunate to be picked so high and that you had no idea which team were going to take you (Matt Ryan style)? Or would you say ‘I knew I was going to either Oakland or New York; whoever went for the top running back was always going to pick me.’

Those are the words Darren McFadden said when I questioned him about the draft during a quick break in practice during training camp recently, and as someone who finds nothing more boring than speaking to non-committal sports stars, it was a good way to begin our chat.

I had been looking forward to speaking to Darren for a while. Not because he is an NFL superstar in the making, or because I had heard he was a great talker. No, I wanted to talk to him for far more selfish reasons. I wanted to feel that the Raiders players themselves had the belief that they would improve this season in order to maintain my journalistic credibility in the face of a ridiculous prediction I have made, .

As you all know very well I think that a) the Raiders have the potential to have a .500 season (which would represent an extraordinary season given their recent past) and b)that Darren McFadden is going to have a big year at running back. The former is open to debate, but I am certain that the Arkansas native will have a great 2008. More to the point, so is he.

A lot of the confidence Darren has in abundance is a result of the enormous contract that the Raiders signed him to, and who can blame him. Whilst it might now be the norm for top ten picks to get ludicrous amounts of money in their first contract, it is still a beautiful moment for the young players when receive the money along with a professional contract.

‘It felt great’, McFadden said when I asked him how it felt on the day he put pen to paper on his deal. ‘It’s been a lifelong dream to get into the NFL. I worked hard in college to get here and get picked so high.’

His answer echoed what Reggie Bush said to me a couple of months ago; namely that the dream of getting picked so high in the draft is the financial reward rather than becoming a fully fledged NFL player. (I won't get into a rant about this now, I already talk about rookie contracts far too often.)

Whether or not the motivation to get into the NFL is mainly financial or not, with a huge contract comes huge expectation, and McFadden admitted that ‘there is a lot of pressure’ on him to perform, both from the fans and from the Raiders management. But he gave me the impression that he wanted to embrace his situation rather than hide from it. He even compared his potential to that of a young LaDainian Tomlinson, who was his idol when a young McFadden was in high school.

‘Look at what LT did in his debut year. It shows that rookies can be successful from the offset, and I’m going to go out there and do what I can, relax, and it’ll happen on the field. I’ll perform and I’ll live up to the expectations.’

I put it to him the fact that the Raiders fans are pretty excited about the team’s potential this season, and that I myself had endorsed Oakland to win eight games this season. Rather than suggest that I need to get my head checked and have a haircut (which I really should do), he told me that ‘the fans have a very good reason to be excited. We have a young team and we’re going to go out there and do the business. Al Davis has worked hard to get this team together.’

Whilst it is not surprising to hear a new recruit speaking somewhat fondly about the owner when he has just been made a multi-millionaire overnight, I am not sure if those within the Raiders organisation think the same way about Davis as those of us outside the bubble do. There is no doubt that Big Al cares about his team, and I think that warmth rubs off on the players and creates a tight unit.

Indeed, Dazzle (as I am going to call him this year unfortunately for you) said a lot of the pre-season optimisim in camp is down to the atmosphere amongst the players. ‘Training camp was great. All the guys here have been smiling and laughing, enjoying themselves on the field, and that’s what it is all about; having fun on the training ground then getting the results come day one.’

The majority of players will talk their team up and believe in their team, particularly rookies who have recently signed big money deals. But Dazzle really does believe that the Raiders are on the up, the enthusiasm he spoke with removed any doubts I may have had about whether those within the Raiders camp actually believe they will do well this year.

Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to speak to Darren for long enough to be able to get into any meaty issues, but as one of the biggest rookie prospects this season he is a man in demand both on and off the field. But I needed to ask him a question, a question which has and will continue to cause me many sleepless nights.

It was time to put my prediction to him. I tentatively suggested that I had backed the Raiders to finish .500 this year. Had I done the right thing? With a brief chuckle, Dazzle reassured me: 'You'll be alright'.

Those words will stay with me for the next four months as I sweat over every Oakland result. In McFadden I trust.