A Year-By-Year Look at Reggie McKenzie’s Worst Draft Picks

2015: Mario Edwards Jr., DE, 2nd Round (35th overall)

Slotting Mario Edwards as the worst pick of McKenzie’s 2015 class may seem blasphemous to those of us who watched his phenomenal rookie season. Edwards was indeed brilliant, and showed off his versatility along the defensive front, especially after Aldon Smith’s suspension was handed down in Week 10 of that year.

With that acknowledged, lest we forget, the pick was almost universally loathed among Raider Nation, many of whom spent months prior to the season trashing McKenzie for the pick. The scouting report on Edwards was that he’d spent his senior season at Florida State overweight and underachieving. Pre-draft analysis is almost biblical around this time of year, so when his name was called early in the second round, fans were incensed.

Edwards spent the 2015 season winning over fans with his play until going down at the end of the year with a hip injury that would take him virtually all of 2016 to recover from. As the Raiders’ defense struggled week in and week out, a recurring theme among the Nation was starting sentences with “When we get MEJ back…”. That didn’t happen until Week 16 (ironically, the same week Derek Carr…never mind) and was ultimately negligible, as Edwards had little time to work himself into playing condition, and was actually a last-minute scratch in the playoff game against Houston.

Thank you for the recap of stuff I already know, Ryan. But how does that make him the worst pick of that class?!

Remember, we’re judging players against others from the same position. And while in this case, it’s a razor-thin margin (again, speaking to just how damn good Reggie is at this drafting stuff), there was one defensive end available that was probably a better pick, and that’s Preston Smith, who Washington snatched up just three picks later.

McKenzie likely saw the big picture of MEJ’s versatility and athleticism and placed a high value on that, and when you consider that, the choice makes sense. Even still, it’s hard to argue that Smith hasn’t been the more productive player. Even aside from the fact that Edwards essentially missed all of 2016, Smith recorded 8 sacks in his rookie season, the most of any rookie that year.

Meanwhile, look at the names around all of the other players the Raiders took that year, and try to make a case for where Reggie missed. Amari Cooper was (and still clearly is) the best wide receiver of this class; Clive Walford was the second tight end off of the board, and the only TE from that class that’s even been close to his production is Pittsburgh’s Jesse James; Ben Heeney and Neiron Ball haven’t exactly been hits, but what other off-ball linebackers were there to take at 140th and 161st overall, respectively?

If you want to argue about the likes of Max Valles and Andre Debose, feel free. The comment section is ready and waiting for your longform thoughts on this issue.

It remains to be seen if Edwards will return to his 2015 form, and we should all hope he does, because he obviously makes this team much much better. For all intents and purposes, Reggie not only got the Edwards pick right, he knocked it out of the park.

The irony of that pick both being one that we can legitimately go back and question whether McKenzie got the best player at that position while also being one that won over many skeptics and critics is not lost on me. But I also can’t say with a straight face that I’d run the 2015 draft back just to take Jesse James over Clive Walford. Sue me.

2016: Connor Cook, QB, 4th round (100th overall)

I bet you thought you were going to see Jihad Ward’s name here, huh? Ha!

Admittedly, I don’t quite understand the Ward selection. Ignoring our criteria for just a second, Reggie left a LOT of names on the board in the second: A’Shawn Robinson, Derrick Henry, Deion Jones, Su’a Cravens….the list (unfortunately) goes on.

And while Ward didn’t exactly have an Edwards-esque year, for the most part he performed on par with the 2016 classmates who were chosen after him — especially considering the injury to Edwards forced him into a starting role before he was expected to. If he didn’t have such sensitive Twitter fingers, fans would probably be a tad bit easier on him going into his second year.

On the flipside, I’m still not entirely sure why McKenzie traded up to get Connor Cook in the 4th round of last year’s draft. Rumor has it that Raiders brass knew that the Dallas Cowboys fancied Cook and would take him with the 101st pick. McKenzie & Co. decided that they fancied him more, and traded up one spot ahead to take him before Jerry Jones could get his sweaty, cash-scented paws on him.

Of course, we know how this played out. The Raiders would wind up needing Cook’s services for the last two weeks of their season, as Matt McGloin proved that he is, well, Matt McGloin. In that sense, Reggie looked incredibly smart for bolstering his backup quarterback position.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys held fast and drafted the next quarterback on their board thirty-five picks later. That guy had an ok year.

The NFL is funny like that. Had the Cowboys taken Cook, and the Raiders simply waited on their next choice, who knows how things could’ve played out for either franchise. McKenzie either really liked Cook, or was so turned off by the other QB prospects that he saw no choice but to move up and get the guy he valued the most. Granted, he didn’t really have a whole lot to choose from. But it does leave one to wonder how Prescott’s mobility alone would’ve altered the trajectory of either of the games that Cook played in.

We can chalk this one as a miss of sorts, but one that’s not truly devastating in nature; assuming Derek Carr is healthy and has working extremities, neither guy would be looking at major starting time going forward.

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Conclusion

Reggie McKenzie is very very very very good at his job. Put some respek on his name.