Raider Camp : Nelson Has Knee Surgery, Will Miss at Least 4 Weeks

On Monday, the Raiders found one more thing they didn’t like about Sunday’s exhibition loss to the Washington Redskins. Veteran inside linebacker Bob Nelson underwent arthroscopic surgery for removal of a piece of bone from his right knee and will be out for at least four weeks.

That leaves his spot to be fought over by four-year veteran Jack Squirek and rookie Reggie McKenzie, the 10th-round pick who has been the surprise of camp.

Squirek, however, is still being worked at both inside and outside linebacker positions. That suggests that McKenzie has a fair chance of being the first Raider rookie to make the opening day starting lineup since Matt Millen in 1980.

“Let’s put it this way,” Coach Tom Flores said. “Reggie is making a strong bid for a starting position.

“His inexperience is not a big disadvantage. We started Millen as a rookie, and he had less experience than Reggie.”

McKenzie was an outside linebacker at Tennessee, where he was, if nothing else, well scouted. Scouts came from far and near--to look at the inside linebackers, Alvin Toles, who became a No. 1 draft pick of the New Orleans Saints, and Carl Zander, who became a No. 2 of the Cincinnati Bengals.

McKenzie went in the 10th round. His twin brother, Raleigh, a center, went in the 11th to the Redskins.

Reggie said: “I hoped real hard I could make this team. Being a 10th-rounder . . . If you go in the sixth or the eighth round, you’re really going to have a better shot than a 10th or 11th. If you’re drafted lower, you’re going to have to work to turn their heads. That’s the way it is, the numbers game. I did work at it. I certainly did.”

In a summer mini-camp, he ran a 40-yard dash in 4.65 seconds. In the second scrimmage against the Cowboy rookies, he was all over the field.

Raider Notes The Raiders made no cuts Monday, but have to get down to 60 players today. They’re at 83 now, including Curt Marsh, who has a broken arm, and four or five more candidates for injured reserve. . . . Only one player can be brought back off injured reserve after the season starts without subjecting him to waivers. So if Bob Nelson, termed a strong candidate for the list by Tom Flores, actually goes on injured reserve, he’d have a great chance to miss the whole season.