Las Vegas Raiders pick in top-10 of recent PFF 2022 NFL Mock Draft
By Brad Weiss
The Las Vegas Raiders finished with a .500 record and the No. 17 overall pick in 2021, but the latest mick by PFF has them much worse in 2021.
During the 2021 NFL Draft, the Las Vegas Raiders used the No. 17 overall pick on an offensive tackle, selecting Alabama’s Alex Leatherwood. A seeming miss at the time, it has come out that teams actually could have gone with Leatherwood late in round one, so it may not have been as big a reach as some felt.
After going offense with the first-round pick, it was five straight defensive selections for the Silver and Black, including some players who will help them in the secondary. The defensive backfield for the Raiders has been a real issue as of late, and it will once again be a young unit, with a few veterans sprinkled in during the 2021 campaign.
As we inch closer to the summer months, we have already seen some 2022 NFL Mock Drafts come out, including one recently by Pro Football Focus. In the mock, Mike Renner has the Raiders going defense in the first round, and within the top-10 picks, which means the 2021 season did not go as well as the fan base is hoping.
Raiders pick a cornerback at No. 8 overall
In the mock, Las Vegas holds the No. 8 overall pick, and with it, they select a cornerback. Back in 2020, the Raiders used one of their two first-round picks on the position group as well, selecting Ohio State’s Damon Arnette, a player who really struggled as a rookie this past season.
With this pick, the Raiders selected University of Florida corner Kaiir Elam, who has been a shutdown cornerback for the Gators since the 2019 college football season. In fact, as per Renner, Elam has allowed only 33 catches in his entire college career on 77 targets and has the size to compete at the next level.
If the Raiders go cornerback in the first round in 2022, then the cornerbacks they currently have did not do their job, and if they are picking at No. 8, it has been another lost season. If the Silver and Black have a top-10 pick in 2022, the fan base is going to be calling for Derek Carr’s job, so if they are picking here, I do not see it being a cornerback.