Oakland Raiders: Potential Draft Strategies

Breaking down potential draft scenarios for the Oakland Raiders when they are on the clock in Chicago.

Every year the draft rolls around and similarly to snowflakes, no one draft is like another. Principally, teams can prefer certain actions in the draft. The New England Patriots are habitual down traders, whereas the Seahawks are highly aggressive with moving their draft picks for something they desire.

Oakland Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie has shown himself to be a general manager that has a good feel for every draft he has been in. All in all, he has not shown himself married to one particular view, however he tends to highly value mid to late round draft picks and acquires many of them throughout the draft process.

Coming from Green Bay, McKenzie learned that those draft picks are the backbone to building long term roster sustainability. In the case of the best teams, they acquire these picks through the compensatory pick system, but for the Raiders who are required to be buyers in free agency, they must manufacture these picks by moving within the draft. The question then becomes, “where and when should the Raiders move within a draft”? The answer is always dependent upon the makeup of the draft.

In 2014 when the Raiders were in perhaps one of the deepest drafts for both elite and developmental talent, the team decided to stay where they were early and let the draft fall to them despite offers from teams looking to move up. After the early rounds, Reggie moved back frequently picking and choosing his moments. Last year was a very similar approach. However, this draft is more similar to the 2013 draft which was historically poor and even the best prospects from that draft have been in the end highly limited.

Regardless of the results of the choices from that draft, McKenzie was motivated to move down early because there was a lack of elite talent and the team needed a second round pick. To this day, McKenzie states they would have taken Hayden with the third overall pick.

For a general manager to see a cornerback coming off of a devastating injury and want him above all else in a draft, should impress upon everyone how poor a certain draft was at the top. This current draft is very similar to that one and if there is one lesson anyone should take away from past experience in a draft such as this one, it is the more picks the better, because the overall value of the prospects is widely similar and lacking upside.

Next: Draft Preview: Draft Strengths