The top five draft picks Reggie McKenzie had made thus far in his tenure as General Manager of the Oakland Raiders.
It’s 2012. You’re Reggie McKenzie, an accomplished NFL player and personnel scout. You’ve been groomed at the hip of respected personnel man Ron Wolf and GM Ted Thompson of the Packers. Your former NFL team, the Oakland Raiders, have been in a quagmire for years.
There are salary cap issues, a ton of dead money, unmotivated and untalented players and a culture of losing unprecedented for the franchise. You are with the NFL’s elite program, the Packers, building strength and depth through the draft and contending annually.
Mark Davis, the new owner of the Raiders by way of his father’s unfortunate passing, admittedly knows little about football. He asks family friends and respected NFL legends who should run the Silver & Black. Wolf and Raiders legend John Madden both name you.
But you hesitate. Leave a solid, stable organization like the Pack for the dysfunction of the Raiders? Go to a starving fan base that needs something, anything to believe in?
After deliberation and discussion with your family, you decide to face the challenge. Let’s go back to Oakland and be part of bringing this franchise back to the glory it and you both once knew.
Fast-forward to 2017. You’ve brought your build through the draft and don’t pay unless there’s value philosophy with you from Green Bay, and it’s working. Through savvy salary cap management, excellent drafting and strategic free agent signings, you’ve built the Raiders into a young, talented, deep contender with manageable contracts to keep the talent together for years to come.
This will be your sixth draft with the Raiders. Your first was a bit of a write-off, and you didn’t have a first or second round pick. Last year’s draftees are too green to evaluate as of yet.
In between, you’ve built a roster with franchise cornerstones and depth through the right picks at the right times. You’ve made many good picks. But who are your very best?
Depends on how you look at it, I guess, but value is key. Getting the right player at the right time – or stealing one in the late rounds. That’s what builds a roster. That’s what builds a perennial contender.
Here are the top five draft picks Reggie McKenzie has made thus far in his tenure as General Manager of the Raiders.
5. Latavius Murray, 6th Round, Pick 181, 2013 NFL Draft
The Tay-Train has rolled out of Raider Nation and into Vikings Station, or he may have been higher on this list. For better or worse (mostly better) he was the Raiders feature back the past two seasons. In 2015 in particular, he did an excellent job carrying the load.
Murray didn’t get invited to the combine as a big back out of Central Florida. He did, however, impress scouts with good speed for his size and excellent athleticism at his Pro Day.
His career in Oakland got off to a rough start. He was put on injured reserve for the entirety of his rookie (2013) season. A running back drafted in the sixth round who doesn’t see the field as a rookie? Not good for sticking around the NFL.
But Murray’s size and speed kept him around, and after Darren McFadden and Maurice Jones-Drew proved ineffective for the entirety of 2014, Murray was given a chance. It was Week 12 against the Chiefs, where he ran for 112 yards on just FOUR carries, with two TDs, that he announced his arrival.
A concussion in that game slowed his progress, but he topped the 1,000 yard mark in 2015 as the Raiders feature back and made the Pro Bowl. Last season he ceded some work to rookie dynamos DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard. However, he still put up nearly 800 yards while being banged up some and became a very reliable goal-line back, scoring 12 TDs. He was also rated the third-highest pass blocking RB in the NFL for 2016 and can catch the ball, making him a three-down threat.
Not too shabby for a 6th round pick not invited to the combine. That is some excellent value right there.