It's open-line Wednesday. The lines are open and waiting for your NFL questions with the season fast approaching. We're going to discuss the nuts and bolts of the NFL and anything else that's on your mind, if you'll pardon the overstatement.

Question: Is there any evidence that the hapless, hopeless Raiders are really just a farm team for the New England Patriots?

Yes, and they're not even subtle about the arrangement. The Raiders sent Randy Moss — maybe the best receiver in the game — to their parent team, the Patriots, for chump change — a fourth-round draft pick. The Raiders drafted wide receiver Doug Gabriel in 2003, sent him to New England two years later, and then New England sent him back down to its farm team, the Raiders. Last season the Raiders released LaMont Jordan, and he was immediately signed by, you guessed it, the Patriots. The Raiders used one of their picks in this year's draft to select linebacker Stryker Sulak. They cut him and the Patriots picked him up only to release him later.

The Raiders drafted quarterback Andrew Walter, and then generously developed him for three seasons and played him in 15 games just so he would be ready when he was called up to the big-league club in New England, where he is now Tom Brady's backup. Similarly, when New England needed a Pro Bowl defensive end/linebacker, they called the Raiders this summer and got him for third- and fifth-round picks. All of this casts suspicion on the famous tuck-rule game.

Who is the latest nutcase in the NFL?

We're going to have to go with Michael Crabtree, the 49ers' rookie receiver who was the 10th player chosen in the draft, three slots behind another receiver, the Raiders' Darrius Heyward-Bey. See if you can follow this dizzy logic: Crabtree has yet to sign a contract because he is negotiating based on his position in mock drafts rather than where he was actually drafted. He believes the Raiders erred in selecting Heyward-Bey ahead of him, and he doesn't think he should have to pay for that mistake. After all, he was predicted to be the first receiver taken in the draft, not the second. He says he will sit out the season and re-enter the draft if he is not offered more money than Heyward-Bey ($23.5 million guaranteed).

What is it with these players giving themselves nicknames?