Raiders draft analysis by Tafur

By Vic Tafur Apr 29, 2019  46
It’s time for draft grades. And a 2020 mock … Man, that 2019 season really flew by.

There are a lot of ridiculous days in the NFL media-scheduled madness and the Monday after the NFL Draft weekend always gets a big F from me.

Why, really, do we need to judge the draft picks before they even take the field?

How can we evaluate what happened inside teams’ draft rooms when most of the stuff coming out of them before and after the draft were lies? No general manager has ever faced the press and said, “Yeah, we didn’t really want that guy. The players we wanted got picked up just before us, our phone didn’t ring and that darned clock kept ticking. Good chance we blew that one.”

But the instant reactions happen anyway. Every year.

Rant over. You want a grade? I give the Raiders draft a C.

For Clemson. For consistency. And for character.

General manager Mike Mayock and coach Jon Gruden took three members of the Clemson national championship team among their nine draft picks. They wanted winners, hard workers and leaders. Defensive end Clelin Ferrell will start, cornerback Trayvon Mullen could and receiver Hunter Renfrow will push Ryan Grant and J.J. Nelson at the slot position.

Running back Josh Jacobs from Alabama and safety Johnathan Abram from Mississippi State, the team’s other first-round picks after Ferrell, also graded out high on and off the field.

“I think what I’m most proud of is we stayed consistent through the entire process,” Mayock said Saturday night. “From the day I got here, with Jon and I sitting down discussing what we want in this building and how to develop a team.

“We’re trying to do it by improving in strengthening our locker room with character and hard-working guys who love it.”

Here are my six biggest takeaways from the Raiders’ draft:

Reaching is good
It means you want something. Would the Raiders have preferred to draft Ferrell in the 10-15 range? Sure. But the phone didn’t ring. The Jets were desperate to get out of the No. 3 spot and they didn’t have any takers either.

The reason is that it was a weird draft class, as 10 of the first 19 players drafted were defensive linemen or edge rushers. The Panthers at 16 got one of the hottest prospects this offseason in Florida State pass rusher Brian Burns. There was no need to move up.

The Raiders loved Ferrell on tape and more when they met him. Would he have been there at 14? Probably. But they picked fourth and they thought he was a great fit. It will be easy to compare Ferrell to Kentucky’s Josh Allen and Houston’s Ed Oliver and Burns and grade this pick in a couple of years.

Jacobs was picked too high
Relax. We’re not one of the running back haters out there. Jacobs was the best one in the draft and someone the Raiders had targeted. But they could have gotten him with the 27th pick and instead took him at No. 24. As Mississippi State pass rusher Montez Sweat slid down the board due to reports about a heart issue, the word got out that Mayock and Gruden were going to scoop him up.

Gruden’s brother, Jay, and Washington traded up to No. 26 to grab Sweat.

Imagine if the Raiders came away with Ferrell, Sweat and Jacobs and were crossing their fingers that Abram fell to No. 35.

Jacobs without the ball makes him special
He is a very good blocker and runs routes very well, on top of the explosiveness and ability to run through a tackle. Definitely deserving of a first-round pick. As my old friend Maurice Jones-Drew said on the phone Monday, “Everyone devalues you as a running back until you need one in the playoffs.”

(Jones-Drew, by the way, ranked the Raiders with the second-best draft in the league. “They hit needs with really good players,” the former Jaguars and Raiders running back and current NFL Network analyst said.)

Isaiah Crowell couldn’t have enjoyed watching the draft. He was signed as an insurance policy in case they didn’t draft a RB early and is now looking at 5-10 carries a game max.

The Raiders hit all of their pressing needs
They added three potential pass rushers, a stud running back, two long cornerbacks and a safety in Abram that reminds Gruden of George Atkinson. I thought they were fine at guard and tight end, and they only added tight-end project Foster Moreau. The Raiders are stacked at receiver — if Renfrow makes the roster as a slot guy, he will have earned it.

Mayock was hoping to sign a couple more defensive ends after the draft, but it was no-go.

“They saw we drafted three (and) they’re all staying away from us,” Mayock said. “What we got, of course we got Ferrell — length, motor. We got (Maxx) Crosby — length, motor. Then we get this guy from Prairie View (A&M), Quinton Bell — length, motor, 4.40 speed. So we feel like for sure that’s a position we addressed and we’re excited about.”

Derek Carr is keeping a list
Probably not. That would be silly and juvenile. But the Raiders quarterback will have an edge to him this season, after so many reports before the draft had Gruden drafting a new quarterback to take his place.

First, Gruden was in love with Kyler Murray. One national writer even said that Gruden had a bad poker face it was so obvious. I believe Gruden now has all of Peter King’s chips. Then, last week everybody and their mama were saying the Raiders were going to take Dwayne Haskins fourth. (The Raiders did like him more than Murray, for what it’s worth.)

Haskins went 15th to Washington.

So, Carr goes to sleep Thursday night smiling. And wakes up to reports from ESPN and NFL Network that the Raiders pick at 35 is a “landing spot” for Missouri quarterback Drew Lock.

The Raiders traded down twice and picked Trayvon Mullen at 40. Lock went 42nd to Denver.

“We’ve been telling you for a long time, we think Derek is a franchise quarterback,” Mayock said. “It’s going to take something pretty special to overcome that. We love Derek Carr. We love what we think he’s capable of doing in the future.”

Mayock is a polarizing figure
NFL Network had the knives out for their former co-worker last week with the reports of him kicking out the scouts. And a lot of general managers around the league would like to see the former “draft guru” fail. But at the same time, a lot of national reporters relied on him for draft nuggets for a decade and not only want to see the Raiders succeed but for Mayock to get as much of the credit for it as Gruden does.

Gruden does have final say on the draft picks and the roster, but what does that matter if they collaborate, draft very good players and start winning?

“I give him a lot of credit,” Gruden said. “There was good communication throughout the process. It was a great effort by everybody and Reggie deserves a lot of credit.”

Oh wait … that quote was from after last year’s draft and Gruden was praising since-fired Reggie McKenzie.

Yeah, Mayock and Gruden are off to a nice start, but let’s hold off on blowing up the balloons for the parade.

And let’s hold off on grades. Training camp is not for another three months yet.