Raiders’ Otis Wilson Can Still Walk and Talk

Otis Wilson, a star of the Raider free-agent recruiting class, made his first appearance at the team’s facility Wednesday, and lived up to his billing: agile, mobile and verbal.

Within minutes, he had picked up his share of the dialogue with his former Bear coach, Mike Ditka.

Did Ditka sniff that Wilson’s surgically repaired left knee, bad back and nine years of experience made him a bad risk?

Did Ditka, referring to reports of his displeasure with Wilson for posing for a picture with former Bear assistant Buddy Ryan, joke that Otis should have chosen his friends better?

Ditka did, but that’s only half the story.

“My back is 100%,” Wilson said. “Who said something about my back?

“They labeled me as a health risk, so they had to come up with something. . . . I guess that’s the way to get rid of somebody, say they’re a health risk.

“Buddy Ryan is a former coach of the Bears and a good friend of mine. . . . I imagine (Ditka) did get mad, but if he got mad over that, he’s just belittling himself.

“Every year for the last five seasons, me and Ditka have had some kind of altercation. He’s out of my hair now and I’m out of his.

“He always used to call me and Wilber (Marshall, the other outside linebacker) the ‘big-mouth bookends.’ Wilber’s gone, Todd (Bell) is gone, Mike Richardson is gone. I guess he’s putting in his people. I thought the idea was to get the best players and win the Super Bowl.”

Wilson, 6-foot-2 and 227 pounds, was a Pro Bowl linebacker in 1985, but tore a ligament in his left knee during an exhibition game at Dallas last summer, missed the season and wasn’t protected.

The Raiders had their medical staff examine him, but did not see him work out until Monday at El Segundo.

“There were no problems,” Wilson said of the workout. “I’ve been playing basketball at home, racquetball.

“My knee’s not a problem. That’s the one millionth or trillionth time I’ve had to say that. Lanny Johnson (the surgeon who operated on his knee) said I could have come back and played last season, but an injury like that takes eight-10 months to rehabilitate, so why run the risk of coming back and hurting yourself again? People look at you cockeyed if you’re not healthy. So I chose to take the year off.”

Wilson was reportedly earning about $500,000 a year with the Bears, with two years left on his contract, and is thought to have a similar deal with the Raiders.

He has played both left and right outside linebacker, but was first lined up on the right side, where Rod Martin has played this decade. The Raiders want a lot more out of this bookend than public speaking.

The Raiders released a complete list of their 11 free-agent signings. Five of them are linebackers--they only protected two of their own, Matt Millen and Jerry Robinson--and two more are defensive linemen, underscoring Al Davis’ intention to restore his defensive front.

Signed were linebackers Wilson, Jackie Shipp of Miami, Emmanuel King of Cincinnati, Thomas Benson of New England and Joe Costello of Atlanta; linemen Bob Golic of Cleveland and Pete Koch of Kansas City; cornerback Mike Richardson of Chicago; guard Dale Hellestrae of Buffalo; wide receiver Sam Graddy of Denver, and kicker Jeff Jaeger of Cleveland.

Lost were tight end Andy Parker and kicker Chris Bahr to San Diego; running back Chris McLemore to Seattle; linebacker Reggie McKenzie to Phoenix; running back Reggie Ware to Denver, and receiver-returner Chris Woods to Cleveland.