Oakland Raiders 2018 NFL Draft, Week 13: 5 first-round targets
By John Buhler
With five games left in the 2017 NFL season, the Oakland Raiders could go in any number of ways. They are 5-6 through Week 12 and would be picking 14th overall in the upcoming 2018 NFL Draft if the season ended today.
Going 10-6 or 9-7 would have the Raiders either in the playoffs or on the outside looking in, picking somewhere in the late teens or early 20s. If Oakland treads water and finishes 8-8 or 7-9, the Raiders won’t make the playoffs somewhere in the early teams. Should they crater and finish 6-10 or 5-11, we could see the Silver and Black picking inside of the top 10.
Fortunately, this looks to be a loaded draft class at a few position groups of need for the Raiders. Sure, they could go with a defensive back in the first round, but they did double-down on secondary players in the first and second rounds last year with Gareon Conley and Obi Melifonwu. Since they were hurt most of the year, we haven’t seen enough out of them just yet to target another defensive back in round one.
Ideally, Oakland would look to take a player in the defensive front-seven, maybe a versatile running back if the right guy is available or falls to them. It’s still very early in the evaluation process, but here are five players the Raiders could consider taking in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
Of course, there will be a handful of players from the Alabama Crimson Tide that will end up being first-round picks. Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is the most likely Alabama player to go in the first round, but this could be a draft where a team in need of help at inside linebacker like the Raiders could find their guy.
Though nowhere near as productive as Reuben Foster or Reggie Ragland were in college, senior inside linebacker Rashaan Evans looks to be the next guy in line in the Alabama middle linebacker pipeline. He won’t be the first inside linebacker off the board, but could go in the late teens of the first round.
In 40 career games at Alabama, Evans has 133 total tackles (75 solo, 58 assists), 21.0 tackles for a loss of yardage, 14.0 quarterback sacks, four passes defended, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. His ability to get after the quarterback from the inside might be his best pro attribute.
At 6-foot-3, 234 pounds, Evans could be more than a handful in the Raiders’ defensive front-seven. The biggest issue with Evans might be what plagues many former Alabama players. Head coach Nick Saban practices these boys hard in school. Though a big athletic specimen, Evans might come into the league a little too banged up and could be also-ran before he hits his prime.