Oakland Raiders could add another offensive line starter in Round 1
By Brad Weiss
The Oakland Raiders have a hole to fill along the offensive line after trading away Kelechi Osemele, and his replacement could come on Thursday night.
The 2019 NFL Draft is only four days away, and the Oakland Raiders currently hold three first round picks. Sitting at No. 4, the expectation is that the team will look to add someone to the defensive side of the ball, especially after being historically bad at getting after the quarterback last season.
After trading away Khalil Mack, Oakland managed to muster only 13 sacks as a team, by far the worst total of any team in football. This offseason, they have done a nice job adding talent on both sides of the ball, but have not done a ton to improve their weakness at getting the edge, which is why it will be important for them to bring in some talent at that spot on Thursday night.
While nearly all the teams in the NFL have only one pick, Oakland has a handful, and they should be able to add three elite players Thursday. While the edge spot should be taken care of early, the focus could shift to the offensive line in the latter part of round one, where the Raiders hold the No. 24 and 27 picks right now.
In 2018, Oakland used their only first round pick on the offensive line, bringing in offensive tackle Kolton Miller from UCLA, who started from Day 1 at the left tackle spot. He will likely move to right tackle this upcoming season, but there is still a glaring hole on the interior of the offensive line.
Looking at their current offensive line, there is a bunch of talent there, and the unit got better by signing former New England Patriots left tackle Trent Brown in March. However, they did trade away Pro Bowl guard Kelechi Osemele to the New York Jets, and his position will have to be filled moving forward.
That is where those late first round picks come in, as this draft class has some solid interior line talent. Guys like Boston College’s Chris Lindstrom, NC State’s Garrett Bradbury, and even Kansas State’s Dalton Risner should be available later in round one, and all three could start at right guard for this Raiders team tomorrow.
Of course, Oakland does already have some options on their roster right now, as they re-signed Denzelle Good, and have guys like Denver Kirkland and Chaz Green under contract as well. There are some extremely talented offensive linemen in this group, and it would not surprise if Oakland used one of their late first round picks on one of them.