The Raiders soberly went about the business of putting their 2009 team together with the grim realization it will be without one of their most pleasant surprises of 2008.
Marquis Cooper, who energized the Raiders' special teams over the last eight games of the season, was one of three men lost at sea in the Gulf of Mexico, along with Detroit Lions defensive end Corey Smith and friend William Bleakley.
A fourth man, Nick Schuyler, was rescued by the Coast Guard, still clinging to the overturned boat that belonged to Cooper.
Even as the Coast Guard called off the search after more than 36 hours, the Raiders were clinging to the smallest hope Cooper could be found alive.
"A glass is half full to me so until they find a body I'll just keep hoping, that's the way I am," Raiders coach Tom Cable said. "I'll just keep believing that there are some islands ... .a log floats by and they happen to grab on to it ... until they find them that's what I think."
At the same time, Cable acknowledged what should be an exciting process -- helping put a team together for his first full season as head coach -- has taken on a much different tone.
"You do your job and go after it like you would anyway," Cable said. "You probably don't do it with the right focus because this is real life, this is real people involved. You do those things. You just do them with a heavy heart."
An avid fisherman, Cooper was fairly quiet with reporters in the locker room until the subject of fishing came up. Then he launched into great detail about his 21-foot boat, his 50-plus fishing rods and reels, and the fact the he became hooked on ocean fishing after moving to Florida.
"It's like an addiction," he said toward the end of the season.
Cooper has a wife, Rebekah, and a 3-year-old daughter.
Cooper and his fishing party were anchored some 50 miles off shore when they were overcome by poor weather.
"I know Coop, and I know he hasn't given up out there," teammate Sam Williams said. "He's still trying to get back to us."
Cooper won two game balls for his special teams play after joining the Raiders on Nov. 5. A third-round draft pick out of Washington, Cooper also played for Tampa Bay and Jacksonville.
"His impact to this football team was tremendous, and not just as a football player, but with the type of man that he is and what he brought to this team," Cable said. "We support the family right now, we support the players on this football team, as many of them are supporting the family right now. We'll continue to do so until we get a conclusion to this thing."
