Raiders get an elite linebacker in the first round
The Las Vegas Raiders kick off their 2021 NFL Draft by grabbing a steal with pick No. 17 overall, getting arguably the best defensive player in this draft class. Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons has been in the conversation of being a top-10 pick, but in this mock, he falls to the middle of the first round, where the Raiders are waiting with open arms.
In Parsons, they get the kind of quarterback on the defensive side of the ball that this team has been lacking. This is a three-down linebacker at the next level, plays with a very high football IQ, and is as sure a tackler as you are going to see in this draft class.
This is a draft where the Raiders have to go heavy, and with Parsons falling into their lap at No. 17 overall, they can go in so many different directions the rest of the way. With Cory Littleton and Nick Kwiatkoski back, and hopefully Nicholas Morrow, the addition of Parsons makes this Raiders linebacker group one of the best we have seen from this franchise in a long time.