Obviously, free agency will come first, but we have to wonder how the Oakland Raiders will approach the draft process. Here are five questions to consider.
The Oakland Raiders should hopefully be a better football team in 2018. They have turned over the coaching staff and now have head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Reggie McKenzie working together in unison. While Oakland does have some available capital to make a big splash or two in free agency, we should expect the bulk of their roster building to come through the 2018 NFL Draft.
The Raiders have three picks in the top 100, including either No. 9 or No. 10 depending on how that coin flip with the San Francisco 49ers at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis shakes out. Oakland has a pick in every round but the fifth due to the Marshawn Lynch trade with the Seattle Seahawks. The Raiders are also swimming in a ton of sixth-round compensatory picks.
Given that the Raiders went a miserable 6-10 last fall, they will have better draft picks than most teams in the NFL. They are in primed position to get guys that are undervalued and fall in the draft, as well as prime real estate that other teams might be willing to trade up for. There is no reason that the Raiders can’t have their best draft since 2014 this spring.
Before the Raiders get to the NFL Draft, they will have to do their due diligence in free agency. That should clear up a few questions heading into the draft, but obviously, more will remain. Here are five questions the Raiders must consider in terms of 2018 NFL Draft strategy.
How will the many compensatory sixth-round picks play into this?
While many in Raider Nation would have preferred that these compensatory picks would be coming in an earlier round, the Raiders are in good position to get several undervalued guys in the sixth round. Along with the Seattle sixth-round pick coming back Oakland’s way in the Lynch trade, the Raiders will have at least half a dozen picks at the end of round six.
So how can we spin this positively? Well, the Raiders could make a fringe prospect’s NFL dream come to life with a late-round selection. He’d ideally be indebted to the Silver and Black for taking a chance on him. All players that get drafted are talented, but the Raiders could be getting a few of those grinder types that Gruden seems to like.
Say the Raiders hit on a defensive back at the end of round six? The Raiders could be getting their own version of a Richard Sherman with that selection. You know who else was a former sixth-round pick? The greatest quarterback of all time in Tom Brady. There is a ton of value to be had with these compensatory picks, as long as the Raiders do their homework.
By having that many late-round selections, it could intensify the Raiders’ focus for players that may or may not get drafted. If they hit on just a few of these, who knows how impactful that will be for the Silver and Black as they close out the decade.