Raiders : Player Rep Mike Davis Questions Being Cut

On the day the Raiders got Brian Holloway, the tackle/labor leader from the New England Patriots, they cut their own player representative, Mike Davis.

Davis, like Holloway, is a member of the executive committee of the National Football League Players Assn. The Raiders have no history of hassling union men--NFLPA head Gene Upshaw rose to prominence in the union while a Raider--but Davis said he still wonders whether his union involvement had anything to do with his release.

He also wonders about being cut after being out with an injured Achilles’ tendon.

“It’d be foolish of me not to have questions about either,” Davis said from his Los Angeles home.

“No one can really know for sure (whether he was cut for union participation) unless someone starts telling the truth. I don’t know. There were 92 guys in camp, and the roster had to be cut to 60. Being the competitive person I am, I seriously doubt I’m a worse safety than the people they have left. And that’s not a slight to anybody.”

Said Coach Tom Flores: “(Union participation) has never been an issue with us. Never.”

Don’t come around the Raider-Chicago Bears exhibition Saturday looking for Jim McMahon. He won’t play.

Also, don’t look for McMahon in the Bears’ opener against the Giants, or in the first month of the season, or maybe the second month, either. Bear Coach Mike Ditka said his quarterback is probably bound for the injured reserve list.

“I doubt he’ll figure in our plans for the early part of the season,” Ditka said in a conference call from Chicago Wednesday.

While in town, McMahon is to consult Dr. Frank Jobe, who performed the surgery on his right shoulder. The Bears are waiting for that before acting. If they think McMahon is close, they’ll keep him on the 45-man roster, then put him on injured reserve after the season starts so that he can be brought back after four weeks. If they think he isn’t close, they can put him on injured reserve before the opener, which means he has to stay out six weeks.

Doug Flutie will start Saturday, and it won’t be anti-climactic to him. Ditka says he may cut one quarterback and acknowledges that Flutie is the one closest to the door.

Raider Notes The newest version of the Raiders’ No. 1 offensive line: Bruce Davis at left tackle, Charley Hannah at left guard, Don Mosebar at center, rookie Bruce Wilkerson ahead of Bill Lewis at right guard and journeyman Steve Wright at right tackle. . . . Brian Holloway, who is ticketed to be the next left tackle, was due to arrive late Wednesday night. Whenever he makes the starting lineup, Bruce Davis will move over to contest Wright at right tackle. . . . Holloway called Coach Raymond Berry of the Patriots a liar Wednesday for saying his union activities had nothing to do with the team’s decision to trade him. “Raymond Berry is a liar,” Holloway told a Boston radio station. “(He was) out there raving how I played two weeks ago against (New York Giants All-Pro linebacker) Lawrence Taylor and the (Philadelphia) Eagles. You don’t lose that in a week. When you sit on (the union) executive committee, you know you’re sitting in a dangerous seat,” Holloway told WROR. “Every time you have a collective bargaining agreement there is always going to be a fall guy. I happen to be the man.” . . . A correction: Kenny King’s duties relative to the proposed Irwindale stadium will be in public relations. John Herrera remains the head of the project. . . . To make room for Holloway, the Raiders cut defensive end Jeff Reinke, who was on injured reserve last season.