It won’t just be the NFL regular season that’s about to start up. That’s right, college football will be back in action before you know it. While the 2017 NFL regular season won’t begin for the Oakland Raiders until they take on the Tennessee Titans in Nashville on September 10 in Week 1, the 2017 NCAA season will begin a week earlier during Labor Day weekend.
With a team like the Raiders just entering their prime, you can never overlook the type of players your team can select in the upcoming NFL Draft. Many expect Oakland to be in the playoff mix in 2017. The Raiders will likely challenge the Kansas City Chiefs for the division crown in the AFC West.
With that in mind, don’t expect the Raiders to be picking anywhere close to the top-half of any round in the 2018 NFL Draft. That’s fine though, as Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie has shown an innate ability to find great players no matter when the Raiders are on the clock. Derek Carr was a second-round pick, Gabe Jackson a third-round pick and Jalen Richard was undrafted.
To get even more fired up for football season, we’re going to do a way too early 2018 NFL Draft. We might be doing one every week or every other week, as we love to scout the best players in the college game doing great things on the gridiron every fall Saturday.
In this mock draft, the Raiders will be picking roughly 24th in each round to account for their overall draft position from last year. Oakland has 11 picks, including a ridiculous five in the sixth round. Let’s get to drafting some guys that might play in the Silver and Black.