Recapping the first Las Vegas Raiders Draft

[Chwf3rd25]

34 minutes ago, reddevil said:

I think he turned it around this year. The story is that he was a bit difficult to manage - arguing with coaches etc. He was going to leave last year and was persuaded to stay, had a kid over the year which matured him and with the coaches help, he changed and became a leader. 
 

I don’t think he’s a scumbag or diva - he was just a bit immature and needed help to get where he needed to be.

I know the main issues were in 2018 but teams still took him off their boards this year because they were that concerned about him (Dane Brugler said that on a podcast)

[oakdb36]

https://establishtherun.com/evan-silvas-afc-draft-grades/

Quote

Las Vegas Raiders

1 (12). Alabama wide receiver Henry Ruggs

1 (19). Ohio State cornerback Damon Arnette

3 (80). Kentucky running back Lynn Bowden

3 (81). South Carolina wide receiver Bryan Edwards

3 (100). Clemson safety/linebacker Tanner Muse

4 (109). Clemson guard John Simpson

4 (139). Louisiana Tech cornerback Amik Robertson

Overview: Raiders GM Mike Mayock’s second draft was long on big-school prospects and emphasized playmakers on both sides of the ball. As Derek Carr has lacked a true field stretcher throughout his NFL tenure, Ruggs’ 4.27 speed will give Mayock and Jon Gruden a fair evaluation of Carr in his make-or-break year. Announced as a running back, Bowden’s backfield-slot-return game versatility reminds of Randall Cobb. Edwards is a physical, target-commanding possession receiver who would have gone earlier if not for his checkered injury history. Muse led Clemson in interceptions in his final year, then blew up the Combine by running 4.41 at 230 pounds. Simpson provides insurance on RG Gabe Jackson, heavily rumored to be on the trade block. Robertson is a feisty 5-foot-8 college outside corner who will have to convert to the slot. Unfortunately, the Arnette pick dealt a major blow to Las Vegas’ grade as a third-round prospect the Raiders stunningly reached for in the top 20. Arnette is old for a rookie (24 in September), slow for a cornerback (4.56), and was removed several teams’ draft boards due to off-field concerns. My guess is the Raiders panicked after the Falcons reached for A.J. Terrell three picks before.

Grade: C+

 

[Darbsk]

One thing that surprised me was the lack of trade downs in the mid rounds for us. Maybe it was the unusual nature of the draft this year but I fully expected us to trade down to get more picks in the 4th, 5th and 6th range. Not to say I'm unhappy about that, sometimes fewer higher picks are better than lots of lower picks, especially as we'd done a lot if work to fill obvious gaps in FA.

Totally agree that we looked after a specific type of player, with the love of football, tenacity, competitive and aggressive. I love that almost 'throw back' mentality and that fits perfectly with our team history, I really like the way we've gone about things the last two drafts and recent FA, making me less nervous about Gruden and Mayock moving forward.

Edwards and Robertson are probably the picks I'm most looking forward to seeing on the field, camp should be very feisty! 

[Bitty 2.0]

2 hours ago, Rolni said:

I'm not sure Muse can cover TE's and RB's. His COD might not be good enough. Littleton will do that anyway...

I can't see Gruden being that modern and aggressive, but I hope you are right

Gruden just doesn't have the tools. If you look back into his history, he's one of the biggest innovator in the NFL today.

A bunch of teams run a version of his offense including the Rams and KC.

Assistant coaches under Gruden who have become NFL or college head coaches:

Coach	Team	Year(s)
Bill Callahan	Oakland Raiders	2002–2003
Rod Marinelli	Detroit Lions	2006–2008
Mike Tomlin	Pittsburgh Steelers	2007–present
Stan Parrish	Ball State Cardinals	2008–2010
Raheem Morris	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	2009–2011
David Shaw	Stanford Cardinal	2011–present
Marc Trestman	Chicago Bears	2013–2014
Gus Bradley	Jacksonville Jaguars	2013–2016
Jay Gruden	Washington Redskins	2014–2019
Kyle Shanahan	San Francisco 49ers	2017–present
Sean McVay	Los Angeles Rams	2017–present
Jimmy Lake	Washington Huskies	2020–present

Edited April 26, 2020 by Bitty 2.0

[oakdb36]

[Geezy]

It’s refreshing to have an actual plan in place and to build toward something. We’ve come a long ways in just two years(obviously, that’s gonna depend on these guys panning out) we don’t have any huge glaring holes on the roster any more. Which is exciting because in the future we won’t be pressing for need and will be going BPA with one eye on the future. We’re taking guys with a certain mentality, character about them. Love seeing that we have a type of player and we’re going out and getting them, regardless if outsiders agree or not, We’re building a certain culture and Mayock and Gruden don’t give AF about a draft grade lol. 
 

Another thing that I haven’t seen mentioned much, is how they managed to take guys that will eventually replace aging big ticket players(Amik/Joyner, Simpson/Jackson, Edwards/Williams) We have a couple year window in which we won’t be losing much FAs, 2021 our biggest FA is Hankins and 2022 is Miller(5th year option) and Hurst. We can really stockpile the roster with cheap salaries the next couple seasons and be in great cap shape when 2023 hits and it’s time to make some tough decisions(obviously a ton will change till then). We will be able to save roughly 40 million next year by getting away from Mariota, and the three guys mentioned before. Two things about Reggie, he signed good contracts that didn’t paralyze us long term and he didn’t pick any good players to re-sign 🥴

So, if we play out cards right the next couple seasons we should be in good shape for a long while. I’m definitely excited. Waiting to see the on-field results to make a valid opinion, I trust in Mayock, and even though at the time I didn’t understand every pick, after diving in each prospect I can see why we did what we did.

[Frankie2Gunz]

https://www.raiders.com/audio/coach-gruden-talks-henry-ruggs-iii-offensive-weapons

Good listen here.  Gruden recapping the draft.

[dante9876]

3 hours ago, Rolni said:

I'm not sure Muse can cover TE's and RB's. His COD might not be good enough. Littleton will do that anyway...

I can't see Gruden being that modern and aggressive, but I hope you are right

Me either on Gruden. Yeah Gruden brought some spice to the game when he was young 21 years ago. I haven't seen much of formation variation and play calls since he been back to say he about to get super innovative with an increase of talent. I hope I'm wrong. But if we had sean, andy,kyle, doug pederson, or even matt nagy I would be way more excited about the way we can scheme these new players up. 

[reddevil]

2 hours ago, Darbsk said:

One thing that surprised me was the lack of trade downs in the mid rounds for us. Maybe it was the unusual nature of the draft this year but I fully expected us to trade down to get more picks in the 4th, 5th and 6th range. 

I think Mayock covered this in his presser. He said that he felt that as the draft moved into the later rounds, the more risk there would be with the uncertainty around how the offseason will go. He also said that he didn’t expect Robertson to be there and that he was too good to pass up.

[Rolni]

2 hours ago, Bitty 2.0 said:

Gruden just doesn't have the tools. If you look back into his history, he's one of the biggest innovator in the NFL today.

A bunch of teams run a version of his offense including the Rams and KC.

...

I hope you are right!

I read somewhere, that when he and Andy were together in GB Andy was the more open to new ideas. Andy was more open even back then.

KC rund Andy Reid's O...they are from the same coaching tree, Andy is not a Gruden guy by any means.

McVay had as much or more impact from the Shannahan's. 

I don't think Gruden has a good/real coaching tree...

[NYRaider]

Overall I'm happy with how the draft turned out. The only pick that I'm still kind of meh about is Muse in the third round but he has the athletic tools to be a player at LB so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. We wanted to get faster and more dynamic on offense and we did that Ruggs, Bowden, and Edwards. I'm particularly excited to see what Ruggs and Edwards can do but if all goes well those guys could be our starting outside WR's for years to come. I like Bowden as a versatile chess piece but I'm still a little skeptical about going into the season with him as RB2 especially after seeing Jacobs get hurt last year. 

I wasn't a huge fan of the Arnette pick on draft night but I'm fine with it now. He should be a plug and play starter on the outside that brings an element of toughness with his physicality, trash talk, and ability in run support. Same goes for Robertson, he's a dog, and adding another player like him into our secondary will only help with the identity we're trying to build. 

I like the Simpson pick as he looks like a guy that will be a future starter here once Incongito hangs it up. 

And overall one of the things that I really like is that we can potentially cut Jackson, Williams, and Joyner after this year which would save us $29M in cap space. Because we'll have their replacements on rookie deals in Simpson, Edwards, and Robertson. 

[G]

I see this draft as a response to KC. Both the Raiders and Denver stacked up on weapons to keep up with scoring with KC. The Raiders also added two CB's and a S/LB to take on TE's and try and 'fight' the WR's off the line. Amik and Hill might be an interesting match up. I wouldn't be surprised to see our rookies playing a huge role in the KC match ups. Even KC added a 1st round RB to keep the pressure on.

[NYRaider]

10 minutes ago, G said:

I see this draft as a response to KC. Both the Raiders and Denver stacked up on weapons to keep up with scoring with KC. The Raiders also added two CB's and a S/LB to take on TE's and try and 'fight' the WR's off the line. Amik and Hill might be an interesting match up. I wouldn't be surprised to see our rookies playing a huge role in the KC match ups. Even KC added a 1st round RB to keep the pressure on.

Amik wants all the smoke. 

[NYRaider]

One other thing I like about this draft is that it gives us flexibility after this season. None of Edwards, Simpson, or Robertson will be expected to start this season but they still could if they can beat out veterans for their spot. And ideally they'll flash enough that you feel confident going into 2021 with them as your starters. If you do you can move on from Gabe Jackson, Tyrell Williams, and LaMarcus Joyner which would free up an additional $29.9M in cap space for us. 

Which is even more beautiful when you consider that the only projected starters we have who will be free agents after this year are Jonathan Hankins, Maliek Collins, and Damarious Randall. Plus we don't have any good young players that are going to be due for an extension. 

I read that the salary cap is supposed to go up to like $230M after this season. If we were to cut those 3 guys that I mentioned we'd be heading into next offseason with about $70M in cap space to play with.

[Darbsk]

4 hours ago, reddevil said:

I think Mayock covered this in his presser. He said that he felt that as the draft moved into the later rounds, the more risk there would be with the uncertainty around how the offseason will go. He also said that he didn’t expect Robertson to be there and that he was too good to pass up.

Yep, I think he also said that rookies in the last couple rounds would have a really tough time making the roster due to the likely affected rookie camps and ore season that we're likely to have which makes sense. It could be really difficult for rookies this year to make an early impact if camps are heavily affected.