Oakland Raiders 7-round 2019 NFL mock draft 4.0

35. Nasir Adderley – Safety, Delaware

The Raiders reportedly are going to use newly signed safety Lamarcus Joyner as a slot corner, so they still need someone to play deep. A player like Nasir Adderley would fit in perfectly with what the teams need.

Jon Gruden and his coaching staff got a front row look at what Adderly can do when he participated in the senior bowl, so this wouldn’t be a shocking move. The Raiders took a small school prospect last year in the second round with defensive tackle P.J. Hall so the small school label likely won’t affect them. Adderley also eased those concerns with his senior bowl week and great tape that showed off his range, ball skills and willingness to come downhill and tackle.

Watching him, I didn’t see him play a ton of man coverage so it is hard to tell if that’s something you’d trust him to do early on. However, he is excellent in zone coverage which despite what man people think, was actually the dominant coverage of choice for Oakland in 2018 (44.5%).

If you’re not going to be a dominant defense in terms of talent, you need to be able to turn the ball over which the Raiders didn’t do enough of in 2018. With the 2019 defense looking to be a young one, Adderley ball skills could really come in handy in the immediate and long term future.