Las Vegas Raiders 2021 7-round mock draft: Defense gets a boost

Jon Gruden is not a defensive guy, especially when it comes to the draft, but this year he is going to have to go all out on defense, and it starts with the pass rush. We heard coach Gruden mention that the defense “has to get to the quarterback” after every loss it seemed.

Depending on where you look, sites and scouts have the top-three pass rushers in the class mixed all over the place, with some believing that Gregory Rousseau is the top edge rusher coming out. In my opinion, it would be a surprise to see Rosseau go in the top-ten considering his raw talent and inexperience at the position.

On the other side, Rousseau does not seem like a reach at all, in fact, he appears to be the perfect pick as a player that is already great at the position and will continue to improve. Rousseau is a young, tall (6’5), athletic pass rusher that can play all over the place on the defensive line, something that Raiders have proven to look for in a pass rusher.

Rousseau had 15.5 sacks in his redshirt sophomore season, which was a shortened season at that. Rousseau was a wide receiver early in his football career and did not even play on the defensive line until his senior year of high school, so if he is putting up these numbers and showing this much talent after just a few years at the position, imagine what he can do being trained by professionals.

Rousseau would be the perfect pick for the Raiders, which means they will likely not take him, but we can hope, right?