Las Vegas Raiders: Early to-do list for GM David Ziegler
1. Must draft better in the first round
If you have any kids reading this, you may want to close their eyes as we lay out the recent first-round draft history for the Raiders. The Raiders have had six first-round picks in the last three drafts and have picked the following players:
Clelin Ferrell, Josh Jacobs, Johnathan Abram, Henry Ruggs, Damon Arnette, and Alex Leatherwood.
We don’t need to go into detail to tell you that this is about as bad of a draft resume as it gets.
If the Raiders have any hope at sustained success, they need to do much better when it comes to drafting in the first round. Situations like Henry Ruggs can not be blamed on them, but those other picks were head-scratchers to many at the time and have not played out poorly. Jacobs is the only viable pick at the moment, and given that he plays running back, his value will never match up to other positions long term.
Ziegler needs to put together a scouting room that can execute these early picks and then continue to find gold on Day 3. That will create the level of depth the Raiders need to make a long postseason run.