ALAMEDA, Calif. — Javon Walker’s surgically repaired knee is fine. He runs without a hitch and can break in and out of his cuts fluidly.

The Oakland Raiders veteran wide receiver just can’t get on the field.
While coach Tom Cable tries to figure out how to inject life into the NFL’s 31st-ranked offense, Walker — a Pro Bowl pick in 2004 while with Green Bay — spends his afternoons lining up with the scout team in practice.
“I’m always the other team’s number one receiver,” Walker said. “Going into Houston obviously I’m going to be Andre Johnson. That’s how I get my work in. I just let the staff and the organization make the decisions on however they want to make them.”
Walker was on the inactive list for Oakland’s season-opener against San Diego, played four plays on offense the following week against Kansas City, then was inactive again for last Sunday’s 23-3 loss to Denver.
Cable has instead opted to go with rookies Darrius Heyward-Bey and Louis Murphy as Oakland’s starters through the first three weeks of the season, a pattern that will almost certainly continue Sunday at Houston.
Cable said as much earlier this week when asked what it would take to get Walker into the lineup.
“I think right now it would take injuries,” Cable said. “You feel like that group has really done some good things and you want to keep that going, obviously.”
Murphy, the team’s fourth-round draft pick, shares the team lead with eight receptions and scored on a 57-yard pass in his first NFL game. Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall selection in this year’s draft, has just one catch for 18 yards.
With second-year player Chaz Schilens, a favorite target of quarterback JaMarcus Russell, still sidelined due to a broken left foot, Walker’s experience would appear to be a much-needed commodity in Oakland’s locker room.
Since signing with the Raiders as a free agent in 2008, however, nothing has gone as expected. Walker was robbed, beaten and left unconscious on a Las Vegas street a year ago, contemplated retirement early in training camp the same year then played in only eight games before suffering a season-ending ankle injury at midseason.
Walker traveled out of the United States to have knee surgery and returned for training camp invigorated. His workout regimen drew praise from players and coaches and it appeared Walker would reclaim his spot atop Oakland’s depth chart.
It hasn’t worked out that way.
“I’m more than healthy enough,” Walker said. “A few injuries and setbacks, but not anymore. I’m just going with the flow of whatever they want to do here.”
Walker, who originally signed a $55 million contract with Oakland that included an $11 million signing bonus before restructuring the deal this past offseason, has caught only 41 passes for 483 yards and one touchdown over the past two yards.
Before that, he had 1,382 yards in 2004 and 1,084 in ’06.
Two weeks shy of his 31st birthday, Walker understands the Raiders’ decision to start the younger receivers but believes he can contribute more by playing than watching from the sidelines.
“I guess the coaches have to sit back and take a look at what they would want to do to help people help this team,” he said. “I understand that, let them keep on striving. Let them play, let them play the whole season. The quicker you can get a year underneath your belt, the better you come back the next year, explosive and ready to go.”