Las Vegas Raiders 7-round 2021 NFL Mock: Heavy on the defense

The Las Vegas Raiders are entering year two of the Las Vegas era and will be looking to reward the patience of their long-suffering fanbase with a trip to the playoffs. Head coach Jon Gruden is in year four of his 10-year contract, and GM Mike Mayock is entering his third year on the team and his third draft.

While there have been big strides taken since Mayock became GM, the Raiders will need to at the very least make a trip to the postseason to keep him from spending time in the hot seat. In his third draft with the team, the Raiders have six picks in the upcoming 2021 NFL Draft, after the NFL took away their sixth-round pick thanks to COVID-19 violations.

This gives Mayock one less pick than normal to play around with, but they could of course recoup a pick in the sixth round by trading down. In 2020, the Raiders chose to move up and did not make a pick after the fourth round, so time will tell if they employ that strategy again but for now, we will go with a straightforward mock with the Raiders standing pat with their current picks.

Using the draft simulator from the Pro Football Network, here are the picks for the upcoming draft with a heavy focus on the defensive side of the ball where the Raiders struggled mightily.