Raiders 7-round 2023 NFL Mock Draft: Las Vegas trades down in Round 1
Raiders 7-round 2023 NFL Mock Draft: Las Vegas trades down in Round 1
861. . OC. Cougars . Connor Pay. 223. player
We go back to address the interior offensive line with a player in Connor Pay who can play both center and guard. Andre James has been highlighted as a potential cap casualty, though the Raiders should have plenty of cap space to keep him on the team. Regardless of whether James is on the team next year or not, the Raiders need to further improve the offensive line on the interior.
If the Raiders are going to go out and get Tom Brady or Jimmy Garoppolo, neither is particularly mobile and they will need to have great protection to execute the offense. Pay started all 12 games for the Cougars this season and started 10 games for them in 2021 so the experience is there.
The talent is there as well as he was named to the College Network All-Independent First Team for his play this season at the center position. It may be presumptuous to assume that he can also play offensive guard, but most interior linemen are versatile enough to do that.
He has the requisite size at 6-5 and 312 lbs and can be an anchor in the middle of that line for years to come.