It's officially the off-season for the Silver and Black. After several teams shot their draft position in the foot, the Raiders will be picking 6th.
That's high enough to try to trade up for one of the QB's, but I expect it won't be easy to pry those picks away from Tennessee or Cleveland, nor will it be easy to leap frog the Giants. So, let's see who we can get at 6th.
Mock Draft
6th Pick: DT Mason Graham
37th Pick: QB Jalen Milroe
68th Pick: WR Elic Ayomanor
73rd Pick: OT Grey Zabel
107th Pick: RB TreVeyon Henderson
142nd Pick: CB Mello Dotson
179th Pick: OG Jaeden Roberts
212th Pick: S Dante Trader Jr
216th Pick: QB Will Howard
222nd Pick: DE Kaimon Rucker
In lieu of a top QB, I'm going BPA with the first pick. The Raiders defensive line dramatically over-performed this season, considering the unbelievable injuries. Mason Graham will round out a line that also starts Maxx Crosby, Christian Wilkins, and Malcolm Koonce/Tyree Wilson. I hope we can keep the interim D-line coach, because he's done a great job and unearthed some promising rotation level talent.
For QB, I ended up going with the "heir and a spare" strategy. There's a lot of uncertainty around Milroe, so I took a flyer on the Ohio State QB in the 7th. The nice thing about having a competent high-end backup QB already is that drafting a day 1 starter isn't urgent. The Raiders can swing for the fences.
Otherwise, the focus was upgrading the offense and filling in depth on defense.
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