Looking back at Reggie's drafts as the Raiders GM.

[RaidersAreOne]

I will always respect Reggie for what he has done our GM. He took on the worst roster/coaching staff/facilities/overall state of the team head on. He brought us out of cap hall. He brought us back to respectability. He helped transform us over the years in to a  promising team. For these reasons, I have always backed the guy 100% and turned a blind eye to his mistakes. However with this Obi experiment officially over with, it really got me frustrated and thinking about how bad of a high round drafter Reggie Mckenzie is!

Let's look at his drafts:

2012:

• 3rd Round – Tony Bergstrom (OT)
• 4th Round – Miles Burris (LB)
• 5th Round – Jack Crawford  (DE) & Juron Criner (WR)
• 6th Round – Christo Bilukidi (DT)
• 7th Round – Nathan Stupar (LB)

None made any impact whatsoever and are all gone. He was dealt a tough hand with not picking until the 3rd round, but still all the selections never panned out.

2013:

• 1st Round – DJ Hayden (CB)
• 2nd Round – Menelik Watson (OT)
• 3rd Round – Sio Moore (LB)
• 4th Round – Tyler Wilson (QB)
• 6th Round – Nick Kasa (TE), Latavius Murray (RB), Mychal Rivera (TE) & Stacy McGee (DT)
• 7th Round – Brice Butler (WR) & David Bass (DE)

Yeesh, this is just as ugly. Firstly the trade down to land Hayden sucked value wise. Then we drafted major busts throughout the entire draft sans the three hits in round 6. Murray, Rivera and McGee all produced beyond where they were drafted and were solid players for us at times. However once again, every single player from this draft is now off the team.

2014:

• 1st Round – Khalil Mack (DE)
• 2nd Round – Derek Carr (QB)
• 3rd Round – Gabe Jackson (OG)
• 4th Round – Justin Ellis (DT) & Keith McGill (CB)
• 7th Round – TJ Carrie (CB), Shelby Harris (DE) & Jonathan Dowling (S)

This is where I got over the previous drafts and loved Reggie. He will forever be known for this draft and it's quite frankly one of the best in Raiders history. We landed a top 2 defensive player in the entire league, a franchise QB, a borderline probowl G, staple run stopper at DT and a good slot CB in Carrie. He hit this one out of the park. 4 players remain on our team.

2015:

• 1st Round – Amari Cooper (WR)
• 2nd Round – Mario Edwards Jr. (DE)
• 3rd Round – Clive Walford (TE)
• 4th Round – Jon Feliciano (OT)
• 5th Round – Ben Heeney (LB) & Neiron Ball (LB)
• 6th Round – Max Valles (LB)
• 7th Round – Anthony Morris (OL), Andre Debose (WR), Dexter McDonald (CB)

This is a mixed bag. Cooper vs Williams will forever be a big debate, but I am happy with the Cooper selection. He under performed HARD last year but should bounce back. MEJ has been very up, down and injured. The pick at the time surprised most of us but when he is healthy he is a good player. The rest of the draft is very meh. Walford was a bust for being an awesome college player, Feliciano is average depth at best, and everyone else sucked hard and is gone. Another underwhelming draft. 4 players remain.

2016:

• 1st Round – Karl Joseph (S)
• 2nd Round- Jihad Ward (DE)
• 3rd Round- Shilique Calhoun (DE)
• 4th Round- Connor Cook (QB)
• 5th Round – DeAndre Washington (RB)
• 6th Round – Cory James (LB)
• 7th Round – Vadal Alexander (OG)

This one is a bit better than the last. Players have flashed solid play (Joseph, Washington), but we had a MAJOR bust in Ward and Calhoun was on that track but looks acceptable this PS. Another forgettable draft that we had to capitalize on, especially how we traded up for Cook. 5 players remain.

2017:

• 1st Round – Gareon Conley (CB)
• 2nd Round – Obi Melifonwu (S)
• 3rd Round – Eddie Vanderdoes (DT)
• 4th Round – David Sharpe (OT)
• 5th Round – Marquel Lee (LB)
• 7th Round – Shalom Luani (S), Jylan Ware (OT), Elijah Hood (RB) & Treyvon Hester (DT)

We took some chances and they haven't paid off yet. Obi is already gone. Conley and Vanderdoes haven't been able to stay on the field (fingers crossed that changes). Lee, Luani and Hester are good depth.

2018:

• Round 1 - Kolton Miller (OT)
• Round 2 - PJ Hall, (DT)
• Round 3 - Brandon Parker (OT), Arden Key (DE)
• Round 4 - Nick Nelson (CB)
• Round 5 - Maurice Hurst (DT), Johnny Townsend (P)
• Round 6, - Azeem Victor (ILB)
• Round 7 -  Marcel Ateman (WR)

The first round pick I still am shocked at and hated, but have warmed up to it given the immense need and potential Miller has. Hall and Hurst look like very good picks, with Nelson showing flashes this PS as well. This is looking to be my second favorite draft after the obvious 2014 one.

What's your overall thoughts of Reggie when it comes to drafting? He has had ample opportunities to build this team up. I feel he does well at finding guys late and in UDFA, but have little confidence in him when drafting in rounds 1-3. Too many risks and too many busts to show. Quite frankly I am happy we have a new "leader" in the draft room in Gruden.

[Gannon12]

Besides the obvious 2014 draft. I have not been impressed at all by his early selections in the draft. Mind you that some of those may have been to fit coaches schemes in the other regimes. Overall not very happy. 

2018 was obviously Gruden and I love the DL picks. Disappointed we passed on James for Kolton. Not happy with no MLB. Hope that gets addressed in the next draft early.

[RaidersAreOne]

@Gannon12 The lack of interest in selecting a LB high still baffles me. It has been such an obvious hole on this team for the longest time. We can try all these declining vets at MLB season by season, but geez would it be nice to land a quality young stud to be our QB of the D.

[big_palooka]

Think you have to look at coaching in some degree. These players have been exposed to a losing culture for the most part coming in. Poor coaching and development. But overall, pretty poor showing.

[MrOaktown_56]

He's a cap wizard. And I like his free agency strategies. But it hasn't been good. Borderline fireable IMO if 2017 and 2018 don't work out.

[SilverNBlackFan]

Let's just be Frank. Reggie has been a terrible drafter outside 2014. I'm sure he  knows that too. Gruden got here and essentially called out his drafting,  saying we havent gotten anything out of these picks the last few years.

He's not in charge anymore of the draft

[RaidersAreOne]

3 minutes ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

He's a cap wizard. And I like his free agency strategies. But it hasn't been good. Borderline fireable IMO if 2017 and 2018 don't work out.

His cap work is essentially why most of us aren't calling for his head imo. He is masterful at working the cap and getting us out of a mess quickly and cheaply. 

[StocktonSav]

There's no doubt in my mind he wouldn't be fired if it weren't for 2014. And that may be a sufficient enough job saver. That class wasn't just good, it's the foundation our current team is built on. I will say that his drafting isn't as bad as some may make it out to be. With all the scouting and analytics that go into the draft it can be easy to forget just how much of a crapshoot things are. Even in the high rounds. You would be hard pressed to find a team that is significantly better over that stretch. Every GM misses in the draft far more than they hit.

However, the biggest issue I have with RM's draft strategy is that for someone who is seemingly risk-averse in every other aspect of his duties, takes so many chances in the first two rounds. He consistently opts for players with significant questions ie injuries (Hayden, Joseph), raw workout warriors (Watson, Ward, Melifonwu) or other (Conley(legal), Edwards(effort). Literally the three outliers from his typical approach are his only good selections in Mack, Carr, and Cooper.

 

8 minutes ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

He's a cap wizard. And I like his free agency strategies. But it hasn't been good. Borderline fireable IMO if 2017 and 2018 don't work out.

Is he though? I've always been perplexed by this view of RM. He did a good job the first 3 years getting us out of cap misery and keeping us in good shape cap wise thus far. But none of that seems to be from any genius cap work. He is just conservative in free agency so doesn't hand out massive regrettable contracts which is what typically gets teams into cap trouble. He also hasn't drafted well so hasn't really had to hand out big second contracts. The only ones he has are Carr, Gabe, and Ellis (and hopefully soon Mack) and none of those 3 are savvy contracts.

 

[MrOaktown_56]

17 minutes ago, StocktonSav said:

There's no doubt in my mind he wouldn't be fired if it weren't for 2014. And that may be a sufficient enough job saver. That class wasn't just good, it's the foundation our current team is built on. I will say that his drafting isn't as bad as some may make it out to be. With all the scouting and analytics that go into the draft it can be easy to forget just how much of a crapshoot things are. Even in the high rounds. You would be hard pressed to find a team that is significantly better over that stretch. Every GM misses in the draft far more than they hit.

However, the biggest issue I have with RM's draft strategy is that for someone who is seemingly risk-averse in every other aspect of his duties, takes so many chances in the first two rounds. He consistently opts for players with significant questions ie injuries (Hayden, Joseph), raw workout warriors (Watson, Ward, Melifonwu) or other (Conley(legal), Edwards(effort). Literally the three outliers from his typical approach are his only good selections in Mack, Carr, and Cooper.

 

Is he though? I've always been perplexed by this view of RM. He did a good job the first 3 years getting us out of cap misery and keeping us in good shape cap wise thus far. But none of that seems to be from any genius cap work. He is just conservative in free agency so doesn't hand out massive regrettable contracts which is what typically gets teams into cap trouble. He also hasn't drafted well so hasn't really had to hand out big second contracts. The only ones he has are Carr, Gabe, and Ellis (and hopefully soon Mack) and none of those 3 are savvy contracts.

 

Eh he gives out big contracts to guys that deserve it like Osemele.

[Gannon12]

 

56 minutes ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

Eh he gives out big contracts to guys that deserve it like Osemele.

and questionable ones  Mike Brisiel & Austin Howard

 

[Humble_Beast]

do UDFAs count? I don't like Reggie drafting skills, but you have to include UDFAs

[Blazer026]

2012:

• 3rd Round – Tony Bergstrom (OT)
• 4th Round – Miles Burris (LB)
• 5th Round – Jack Crawford  (DE) & Juron Criner (WR)
• 6th Round – Christo Bilukidi (DT)
• 7th Round – Nathan Stupar (LB)

Didn't have a pick until 95 overall. None of these guys were anything, although I really liked Criner at the time. And it's not like a ton of studs were picked after round 3 anyway.

2013:

• 1st Round – DJ Hayden (CB)
• 2nd Round – Menelik Watson (OT)
• 3rd Round – Sio Moore (LB)
• 4th Round – Tyler Wilson (QB)
• 6th Round – Nick Kasa (TE), Latavius Murray (RB), Mychal Rivera (TE) & Stacy McGee (DT)
• 7th Round – Brice Butler (WR) & David Bass (DE)

Wasn't the biggest fan of the Hayden pick, but didn't hate it. Also didn't mind the trade down at all. Liked the Watson pick, and think he actually could have been a solid player if not for the injuries he had. Moore flashed his rookie year, and then just like disappeared. I liked the Wilson pick at the time, but he was awful. Every QB from this class was awful to be fair though. Murray and McGee were actually great picks, they just got way overpaid and that's why their not on the team. Rivera was solid for a 6 rounder too. 

2014:

• 1st Round – Khalil Mack (DE)
• 2nd Round – Derek Carr (QB)
• 3rd Round – Gabe Jackson (OG)
• 4th Round – Justin Ellis (DT) & Keith McGill (CB)
• 7th Round – TJ Carrie (CB), Shelby Harris (DE) & Jonathan Dowling (S)

Great class. By far his best. 

2015:

• 1st Round – Amari Cooper (WR)
• 2nd Round – Mario Edwards Jr. (DE)
• 3rd Round – Clive Walford (TE)
• 4th Round – Jon Feliciano (OT)
• 5th Round – Ben Heeney (LB) & Neiron Ball (LB)
• 6th Round – Max Valles (LB)
• 7th Round – Anthony Morris (OL), Andre Debose (WR), Dexter McDonald (CB)

I still think Cooper will be worth his pick. Mario Edwards hasn't looked quite the same since the neck injury. Looked like a steal after his rookie season. Walford was my favorite pick from this draft, I think the ATV injury really screwed him. I hated the Feliciano pick at the time, and still don't think he's very good, but he's a versatile backup I guess. Heeney was a great college player but sucked for us. Ball looked decent at times until he got injured. 6-7 rounders were absolutely terrible. 

2016:

• 1st Round – Karl Joseph (S)
• 2nd Round- Jihad Ward (DE)
• 3rd Round- Shilique Calhoun (DE)
• 4th Round- Connor Cook (QB)
• 5th Round – DeAndre Washington (RB)
• 6th Round – Cory James (LB)
• 7th Round – Vadal Alexander (OG)

I felt like Joseph was a bit of a reach, we really needed a Safety though. Was hoping Tunsil would slide one more pick to us. Ward was a project pick, and got hurt last offseason. Still think he can develop into a decent player, but don't blame them from moving on. Just don't think we should have took a project player in the 2nd round. Calhoun I liked, and I'm quite surprised how terrible he has been for us. I still don't get why we traded up for Cook, never was a fan of him. Washington was a decent pick. James had a few good games, but that's about it. And Alexander was a solid swing tackle with some versatility. 

 

2017:

• 1st Round – Gareon Conley (CB)
• 2nd Round – Obi Melifonwu (S)
• 3rd Round – Eddie Vanderdoes (DT)
• 4th Round – David Sharpe (OT)
• 5th Round – Marquel Lee (LB)
• 7th Round – Shalom Luani (S), Jylan Ware (OT), Elijah Hood (RB) & Treyvon Hester (DT)

Don't mind the Conley pick, surprised he's been hurt so much because he never missed any games at OSU I believe. Didn't mind the Obi pick at the time, also surprised to see he always hurt. Can't stay healthy and didn't look good apparently. Didn't like the Vanderdoes pick at the time, and I wasn't too impressed with him last year. Liked the Sharpe pick, looked decent when he played last year. Might not make the team this year though. Lee could potentially be and run stopper but doesn't look like anything special. None of the 7th rounders look even decent. Looks like a rough class. 

So yeah, some of these classes have been terrible. 2014 was the only great one and all the other ones have been average or below average. 

[Humble_Beast]

7 hours ago, RaidersAreOne said:

I will always respect Reggie for what he has done our GM. He took on the worst roster/coaching staff/facilities/overall state of the team head on. He brought us out of cap hall. He brought us back to respectability. He helped transform us over the years in to a  promising team. For these reasons, I have always backed the guy 100% and turned a blind eye to his mistakes. However with this Obi experiment officially over with, it really got me frustrated and thinking about how bad of a high round drafter Reggie Mckenzie is!

Let's look at his drafts:

2012:

• 3rd Round – Tony Bergstrom (OT)
• 4th Round – Miles Burris (LB)
• 5th Round – Jack Crawford  (DE) & Juron Criner (WR)
• 6th Round – Christo Bilukidi (DT)
• 7th Round – Nathan Stupar (LB)

I remember really wanting Lamar Miller when he dropped. He isn't great but he has been a starting RB for over half a decade now.... rest of the draft was full of scrubs, couldn't even stick as backups...

2013

1st Round – DJ Hayden (CB)

• 2nd Round – Menelik Watson (OT)
• 3rd Round – Sio Moore (LB)
• 4th Round – Tyler Wilson (QB)
• 6th Round – Nick Kasa (TE), Latavius Murray (RB), Mychal Rivera (TE) & Stacy McGee (DT)
• 7th Round – Brice Butler (WR) & David Bass (DE)

Yikes, they draft was a D just because of the 6th round.... should have stayed put and drafted Ziggy Anash.. But if Reggie wanted a corner bad he chose DJ Hayden over Xavier Rhodes and Trufant, I'm sorry but that is bad scouting..... Drafting Watson a 25 year old raw tackle was a flop.... didn't we trade up for Wilson too? wasted pick, Sio Moore started off strong but fell off fast. 6th round was nice in Murray, Rivera as a depth, and Mcgee. Brice Butler is at least a NFL player in the 7th

2014:

• 1st Round – Khalil Mack (DE)
• 2nd Round – Derek Carr (QB)
• 3rd Round – Gabe Jackson (OG)
• 4th Round – Justin Ellis (DT) & Keith McGill (CB)
• 7th Round – TJ Carrie (CB), Shelby Harris (DE) & Jonathan Dowling (S)

this was a great job and the reason Reggie doesn't get much heat

2015:

• 1st Round – Amari Cooper (WR)
• 2nd Round – Mario Edwards Jr. (DE)
• 3rd Round – Clive Walford (TE)
• 4th Round – Jon Feliciano (OT)
• 5th Round – Ben Heeney (LB) & Neiron Ball (LB)
• 6th Round – Max Valles (LB)
• 7th Round – Anthony Morris (OL), Andre Debose (WR), Dexter McDonald (CB)

I still have hope for Cooper. Rest of the draft a bunch of scrubs.... Edwards had potential but injuries derailed his career, not really Reggie fault....

2016:

• 1st Round – Karl Joseph (S)
• 2nd Round- Jihad Ward (DE)
• 3rd Round- Shilique Calhoun (DE)
• 4th Round- Connor Cook (QB)
• 5th Round – DeAndre Washington (RB)
• 6th Round – Cory James (LB)
• 7th Round – Vadal Alexander (OG)

Ward was a pick we needed to really to do well. Karl Joseph honestly looks like a day 2 pick, he's nothing to write home about.... bunch of Jags. Washington okay backup RB, but you need more from drafts than that in rounds 3-7

2017:

• 1st Round – Gareon Conley (CB)
• 2nd Round – Obi Melifonwu (S)
• 3rd Round – Eddie Vanderdoes (DT)
• 4th Round – David Sharpe (OT)
• 5th Round – Marquel Lee (LB)
• 7th Round – Shalom Luani (S), Jylan Ware (OT), Elijah Hood (RB) & Treyvon Hester (DT)

too early to tell.. Obi already a bust tho lol

2018:

• Round 1 - Kolton Miller (OT)
• Round 2 - PJ Hall, (DT)
• Round 3 - Brandon Parker (OT), Arden Key (DE)
• Round 4 - Nick Nelson (CB)
• Round 5 - Maurice Hurst (DT), Johnny Townsend (P)
• Round 6, - Azeem Victor (ILB)
• Round 7 -  Marcel Ateman (WR)

I guess Gruden took over this year....

 

[BackinBlack]

theyve been bad, but he does pull in talent later on and with UDFA, but it goes to show how bad AL came at drafting late in the game.

Gruden will be calling the draft picks soon enough, but I think Reggie will stay with the Raiders.

 

[RaidersAreOne]

7 minutes ago, BackinBlack said:

Gruden will be calling the draft picks soon enough, but I think Reggie will stay with the Raiders.

If he didn't already this past year that is (which I think he certainly had the final say in). I hope Reggie stays on because like others have said, he is good at working the cap and FA negotiations for the most part. He also has an eye for UDFA's but overall can't be trusted drafting anymore.

If it wasn't for the 2014 draft, he would be gone imo.