Oakland Raiders 2018 NFL Draft: 5 wide receivers to target
By John Buhler
With Jon Gruden taking over the Oakland Raiders, we know that he will bring back his patented West Coast passing offense to the Silver and Black. Sure, it is a more passing-centric league since the last time he coached in 2008 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but do you really think that Chucky is going to get all ground-and-pound on us upon his Oakland return? Me neither.
Yes, he will be demanding of franchise quarterback Derek Carr, as he should. However, we do need to ask ourselves a very serious two-part question: Does Carr really throw a catchable ball? Or does he need a few new receivers that don’t succumb to butterfingers constantly? Since Carr has been paid handsomely, he’ll be with the Raiders for a long time.
So it’s only understandable that Gruden will try to revamp this wide receiving corps that grossly underperformed in 2017. Fortunately for him and the Raiders, there are plenty of great receiving talents that could fall to the Raiders in the second to fifth rounds. Some of these guys will drop down draft boards only because other position groups in this draft are so loaded.
While it is up in the air with who stays and who goes with the Oakland receiving corps, we have to believe that they will use one of their first five picks on a standout collegiate wideout. Here are five wide receivers Gruden and general manager Reggie McKenzie should keep their eyes on entering the collegiate draft process.
D.J. Chark just completed his senior season with the LSU Tigers in the SEC. Though he didn’t even play in an SEC Championship Game during his time in Baton Rouge, he will be on a big stage here shortly, as he has accepted his invitation to the Reese’s Senior Bowl down in Mobile.
Even with the head coaching change from Les Miles to Ed Orgeron, the Bayou Bengals haven’t exactly gotten the most out of their elite receiving talent while at school. Did you realize that Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry were collegiate teammates? Come on! Regardless, Chark is a guy Raider Nation will definitely want to keep close tabs on during the draft process, beginning with his week in Mobile for the Senior Bowl.
Chark is 6-foot-4, 198 pounds and is projected to go somewhere in the third to fifth rounds. Much of this has to do with the inconsistencies of the LSU passing game. As a senior in Baton Rouge, Chark only had 40 catches for 874 yards and three touchdowns. In three years at LSU, he amassed just 66 receptions for 1,351 yards and six touchdowns.
The talent is there and it will be interesting to see how he performs in Mobile with NFL Draft prospect quarterbacks slinging him the ball. Chark has never had a quarterback even close to the caliber of Derek Carr. If he does well at the Senior Bowl and the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, the Raiders could end up using a fourth-round pick on Chark out of LSU to play opposite of Amari Cooper.