Chad Reuter of NFL.com had a bit of fun last week with this exercise. He is a draft analyst, so every year he completes a seven-round NFL mock draft filled with college prospects based on their projected value, team needs, and scheme fit.
However, for the third straight year now, he reinvented the idea. He effectively releases each current NFL player into a draft pool and redrafts the best NFL players using the picking order from the previous year, but “snakes” the order. What this means is that if you have the first pick in the first round, you have the last pick in the second round.
You would have the first pick again in the third round, and so on. These teams are made to win now and designed to balance veteran and youthful talent, as well as offense and defense. Any traded picks were restored to the original team, and no compensatory picks were added.
Here are all the picks that Raiders fans should care about:
The Raiders’ selections
Round 1 – Jordan Love, QB
Round 2 – Lane Johnson, OT
Round 3 – Demario Davis, LB
Round 4 – Nico Collins, WR
Round 5 – Carl Granderson, Edge
Round 6 – Joe Mixon, RB
Round 7 – Jaire Alexander, CB
Obviously, when you get to select from the NFL’s best, you are going to end up with a great roster. It wasn’t too long ago that I wanted the Raiders to draft Jordan Love as Derek Carr’s replacement in reality, so at least he ends up in the Silver and Black in this hypothetical. He is paired with an established veteran tackle in Lane Johnson, which can only help his development. He also has an elite wide receiver in Nico Collins as well as a multi-talented back like Joe Mixon.
The defense has the privilege of employing a great player on each level. Jaire Alexander is among the best corners in the league when he is healthy, and I think most fans remember how many tackles Demario Davis had against the Raiders the last time they played. Carl Granderson is no Maxx Crosby, but he still added 8.5 sacks last year and 14 tackles for loss.