For Las Vegas Raiders fans who would prefer to take their minds off the two teams that advanced to Super Bowl LIV, you can tap into what could be in store for the Silver and Black as they’re set to host their first NFL Draft in their new desert home.
Collegiate underclassmen had to declare for the draft this past Friday at 4 p.m. making the landscape of what the Raiders could do a bit clearer. Linebacker Isaiah Simmons publicly announced he’d forego his senior campaign at Clemson Saturday, but will he be available at 12 when Las Vegas gets their first selection?
Now that we have a clear picture of the 2020 talent pool, it’s officially NFL Draft season—a time to watch game tapes, dig into a prospect’s skill set and explore his background.
Last April, general manager Mike Mayock and head coach Jon Gruden targeted productive, high character prospects with a winning pedigree in the NFL Drafdt. The 2019 class looks promising, but the team will need to put together another solid group to keep the franchise moving in the right direction.
This year, the Raiders have fewer picks going into the evaluation process—seven compared to nine last offseason. Still, Mayock will have two first-round picks to address major holes on the depth chart and three third-rounders in a draft deep at wide receiver and cornerback—two positions in need of talent.
Using The Draft Network’s mock draft simulator, we can take a look at where certain prospects could land and how the Raiders can use their selections. Each pick made below reflects what was available while on the clock.
Although CeeDee Lamb at No. 12 seems like a pipe dream, the draft always comes with surprises. Most people logically have him slotted to the Arizona Cardinals to reunite with his former Oklahoma teammate Kyler Murray.
Keep in mind, Arizona selected three wide receivers in last year’s draft. Larry Fitzgerald will return for another season. The Cardinals have bigger voids to fill within a defense that ranked 28th in scoring and last in yards allowed in 2019.
The Raiders could go on the clock and see Lamb on the board. If so, Mayock and Gruden have an easy decision to make unless linebacker Isaiah Simmons miraculously falls outside the top 10.
Lamb could step in as the No. 1 wide receiver in Gruden’s offense. He can extend gains after the catch, break tackles like a running back and routinely beat one-on-one coverage.
At 6’2″, 189 pounds, Lamb doesn’t play with a big frame, but he fiercely competes for contested passes. More importantly, the former Sooner doesn’t lose track of the ball while hand fighting or jockeying for position on a catch, which shows great awareness on the field.
Lamb won’t have the fastest 40-yard time, but we should pay more attention to his football IQ and pass-catching skills. Gruden would enjoy lining him up in different spots to expose favorable matchups.
Midway through the 2019 season, Raiders fans wanted to see the front office pull off a trade for Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who was frustrated with his team’s offense. That didn’t happen, but how about his younger brother Trevon Diggs?
First off, Diggs fits the profile of what defensive coordinator Paul Guenther wants in a cornerback. At 6’2″, 207 pounds, he’s a long, athletic prospect who can disrupt a wide receiver’s routes right off the line of scrimmage.
Diggs isn’t a physical cornerback who comes downhill and wallops a ball-carrier in run support, but the Raiders would select him for his ability to recognize route combinations and force turnovers. He’s a former wide receiver with some ball skills, which may translate to high production on the pro level.
Diggs has experience lining on the perimeter and in the slot, giving the Raiders flexibility with Isaiah Johnson and Keisean Nixon who have yet to claim their spots in the secondary. The Alabama product has a significant upside and would probably start as a rookie like Trayvon Mullen last year.
In 2018, Diggs broke his foot, but he put together a strong senior campaign, logging eight pass breakups and three interceptions.
Don’t let Gruden’s talk about throwing the ball downfield fool you. He may want to incorporate more deep passes, but at his core, the Raiders head coach looks to establish the run.
As a play-caller, three of Gruden’s last four offensive units have ranked 11th in rush attempts. Even in Gruden’s glory years with the Raiders, an offense featuring Rich Gannon, Tim Brown and later on Jerry Rice, three of those teams ranked 12th or higher in total carries.
Secondly, Carr’s had his best year (2016) with the sixth-best ground attack, featuring a three-man backfield, Latavius Murray, Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington. The latter two will become unrestricted free agents in March.
In 2019, Carr showed improvement paired with a viable run game, featuring Josh Jacobs.
In Week 7, Jacobs fractured his shoulder and played through half the season with major discomfort. After registering 251 rush attempts through three terms at Alabama, he recorded 242 carries this past season. Clearly, the compact tailback (5’10”, 221 lbs) can handle the volume, but why wear him down so early in his career?
Zack Moss would be an ideal complement to Jacobs. He runs with force, power and absorbs contact on the move.
Moss plays with a body frame similar to Jacobs (5’10”, 222 lbs) but showcases a more rugged run style, which is exactly what the Raiders need in short-yardage situations and on third downs.
As an added bonus, teams won’t be able to key in on Moss’s role when he’s on the field. The versatile tailback is one of the best pass protectors among the incoming prospects at his position. In addition to his power run success, the Utah product flashed soft hands out of the backfield last year, hauling in 28 catches for 388 yards and two touchdowns.
Jacobs and Moss together would put a smile on Gruden’s face to the chagrin of defenders on the field tasked with stopping them.
Edge-rusher isn’t a significant need, but the Raiders can’t ignore their unimpressive pass-rushing numbers from the past season. Although former defensive line coach Brentson Buckner helped improve his unit, Gruden still felt the need to upgrade the position with a familiar face and one of the best position coaches in Rod Marinelli.
The Raiders ranked 29th in quarterback pressures (hurries plus knockdowns and sacks), which is a more accurate gauge of a team’s overall push at the line of scrimmage than sacks alone.
Keep in mind, Benson Mayowa, who ranked second on the team in sacks (seven) will become a free agent. Arden Key showed slight glimpses before he broke his foot but remains an underachiever off the edge.
Clubs should always welcome solid pass-rushers, especially a unit in need of more pressure at the line of scrimmage.
Bradlee Anae comes into the league with a more refined pass-rushing skill set than Key. He’s also bigger, listed at 6’3″, 265 pounds on Utah’s school site. We’ll have official measurements at the NFL Scouting Combine, but the former Ute has the ideal frame of an NFL edge-rusher.
Among pass-rushers, the term bend is the buzzword—the ability to get around offensive linemen, contort the body and move a quarterback off his spot or sack him. Anae possesses that trait. He uses his hands, leverage, and quickness to win matchups.
Unlike Key, who needed major work on his technique coming out of LSU, Anae has a solid set of fluid moves to build upon.
Here’s the selection from college football’s reigning champions. Patrick Queen would be an ideal pick in the second round if the Raiders had an early Day 2 selection. With that said, Jacobs Phillips can fill the void at linebacker because of his ability to play in space.
The Raiders should pursue an established middle linebacker like Joe Schobert in free agency and use Phillips on the weak side. He can read run and pass plays with anticipation to make stops on all three downs.
At 6’4″, 233 pounds, he’s a taller linebacker capable of batting down passes in shallow zones. Guenther can use the LSU product’s physical tools to match pass-catching tight ends.
Phillips isn’t an elite linebacker prospect, no one matches Simmons in that regard, but he has tremendous upside because of his athleticism and experience playing in the open field.
The Raiders need someone to sniff out the intermediate routes, track down ball-carriers in the passing game and a fluid defender to limit tight end production. Phillips fits the description.
Unless Guenther plans to move Lamarcus Joyner to safety, the defense needs a deep cover man at the position. According to Sports Info Solutions (via Silver and Black Pride’s Cyril Penn), the Raiders lined up in Cover 1 (28.9) and Cover 3 (25.1) alignments for a majority of defensive snaps through Week 10. The former is a man-coverage scheme, and the latter employs a zone defense.
That’s important to know because both coverages utilize a deep safety, who patrols the middle of the field. Ideally, that player has range with the ability to read the quarterback and track the football. At times, Erik Harris flashed in that role. He finished the 2019 campaign with eight pass breakups, three interceptions—two returned for touchdowns.
In 2020, Johnathan Abram should be fully recovered from a torn labrum but deep range isn’t his strong suit. The Raiders may want a more athletic defender than Harris in that role. After struggling in coverage this past season, Curtis Riley isn’t a solid option on the back end.
Reggie Floyd can wear multiple hats on the pro level. He’s 6’0″, 222 pounds with a wealth of athleticism in addition to the prototypical size for a safety. The Virginia Tech product will go after the football, indicated in his collegiate production, five interceptions and 10 pass breakups over the last three terms.
Floyd isn’t shy about helping out in run defense and laying a hit on a running back in the box. As a junior, he recorded 9.5 tackles for loss. The Raiders could even use him as a small linebacker in the nickel because of his physical nature.
If Guenther can creatively use Floyd’s skill set, the Raiders would have a deep safety with great reach, a sound tackler in the box and a hybrid linebacker-safety rolled into one player.
Tyler Johnson fell to the fifth round, which is a bit of a surprise, but with a deep wide receiver class and his decision to skip the Shrine Game, we could see the Minnesota product on the board in the later rounds.
Remember, every appearance is essentially a job interview for incoming prospects. For better or worse, Johnson forfeited an opportunity to showcase his talent. He didn’t receive an invite to the Senior Bowl, which isn’t a good sign going into the evaluation process:
Secondly, the 6’2″, 205-pound wideout isn’t a burner and a 4.5-second 40-yard dash time may hurt his draft stock.
If Johnson drops in the draft, the Raiders should certainly pounce on him—even if he’s available in the fourth round.
Look at a few of today’s top wide receivers, Michael Thomas, Mike Evans and Davante Adams don’t have top-gear straight-line speed. We have to move away from the allure of the 40-yard track guy at wideout and focus on reliable pass-catchers. That sounds basic, but we’re often enamored with speed over a set of good hands.
Since 2018, Johnson has recorded 2,487 yards and 25 touchdowns. He’s not going to beat defenders in a foot race down the sideline, but the talented pass-catcher will battle for every target and often wins on those plays. Furthermore, his route-running has improved over time.
With Lamb in the first round and Johnson late in the draft, Carr would have a stacked group at wide receiver.
It’s January. This is the first mock draft of many for the offseason. These projections will change after the Senior Bowl, the combine and weeks leading up to the final decisions at the podium as the Las Vegas Raiders make their first-ever selection at No. 12 of the first round.
Although not reflected in this mock, expect Mayock and Gruden to maneuver their trio of third-round picks to fill the selection gap between Nos. 19 and 80. The Raiders inexplicably sent their second-round pick to the Chicago Bears in the Khalil Mack deal, but they have the capital to move up or down for an early Day 2 spot.
In Las Vegas, Mayock and Gruden hope to stack another quality class on top of the 2019 group for a strong start at their new home. At a minimum, they should be able to acquire a dynamic perimeter weapon and add a couple of immediate impact players for the defense.