Las Vegas Raiders: Pros and Cons of drafting Jaylen Waddle at No. 17

ESPN’s Todd McShay has the Las Vegas Raiders taking Alabama WR Jaylen Waddle at No. 17 overall. We look at the Pros and Cons of that selection.

As the season finishes, and the league heads into the playoffs without the Las Vegas Raiders being part of it once again, the NFL Draft season is officially upon us. There is no doubt that the Raiders have glaring needs, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and analyst and Raider Nation alike will undoubtedly have a wide array of what position is more important, and who the Raiders should target with their first pick at seventeen.

We saw free agent acquisitions like Maliek Collins turn out to be a huge bust after being immediately marked as a captain, barely making an impact. Injury issues and lack of quality depth exposed a young secondary for the Raiders as well, mainly at the safety position.

On the flip side, the Raiders struggled at times to get their explosive offense to be consistent and provide production in the red zone. Rookie speedster Henry Ruggs III had an underwhelming season, mainly in part to early injury issues, but it was not a huge issue due to the emergence of free agent acquisition Nelson Agholor.

In his most recent mock draft, ESPN Analyst Todd McShay has the Raiders taking Alabama wide receiver Jaylen Waddle with their first round pick at seventeen, which does not really fill a huge need. Though it would mark their second first round pick in a row taking an Alabama speedy wideout, there’s no denying Waddle is a special home run type of player anytime the ball is in his hands.

Though I do believe the draft this year should be heavily focused on the defensive side of the ball, you can never have too many weapons on offense, and here are the Pro’s and Con’s of the Raiders taking Waddle with their first pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.