AP

When the late Raiders owner Al Davis was calling the shots, a strong-armed quarterback was a necessity. So it’s a strong sign of the changing times in Oakland that the biggest question about this year’s presumed starter, Matt Flynn, is arm strength.

Flynn arrives in Oakland having started just two games in his NFL career, so there’s not a lot of film of him to study. But Ron Jaworski of ESPN has studied the film that’s available and ranked Flynn dead last among the NFL’s 32 starting quarterbacks. The reason is Flynn’s lack of arm strength.

“The more throws I watched, the more his arm strength limitations were evident,” Jaworski said on NFL Live while diagramming a touchdown pass Flynn threw with the Packers. “The fade, as you see here, is not an arm-strength throw. It’s more of a touch throw. In fact, I was concerned that his few deep balls lost energy at the back end. They had a tendency to die.”

Jaworski thinks Flynn can succeed in the NFL, but he’ll need an offense tailored to his accuracy, and not an offense relying on arm strength. That doesn’t sound like the kind of offense we’re accustomed to seeing in Silver and Black.