Kolton Miller, OT UCLA -- Raiders' 1st Selection 15th Overall

[raiders4life]

26 minutes ago, big_palooka said:

Except if the GM had his way, they would have. Because Jospeh is JAG and Obi can't get on the field. James would have been a leader and difference maker day 1. He's going to elevate that chargers defense to a new level.

Only thing that makes that James pick sting less is if Miller becomes a franchise LT. 

All of this speculation on the whole Reggie drama..

If I were running the draft, I would do the exact same thing Reggie did and I think you would be crazy not to. I would have my scouts research every player in the draft and rank them. Their job is to research players available. No part of their job should be evaluating the current Raider team at all, just college player scouting. Then I would have my coaches siphon that list based on their system/the needs of the team and rank the players. Their job is to focus entirely on the current Raider team and identify its needs. Come draft day I would weigh what the coaches think, weigh what the scouts think, and draft the player that benefits the entire team the most. Do you have proof this isn’t what Reggie did? Cause I think it’s the most plausible course of action..

[Mr Bob Dobalina]

So Tom Cable is  Calling the shots now?

Edited April 27, 2018 by Mr Bob Dobalina

[NightTrainLane]

4 minutes ago, Mr Bob Dobalina said:

So Tom Cable’s Calling the shots now?

He made a recommendation on a player from his position group that the FO and coach had already put on the shortlist to address.

[justwinbaby81]

50 minutes ago, big_palooka said:

Except if the GM had his way, they would have. Because Jospeh is JAG and Obi can't get on the field. James would have been a leader and difference maker day 1. He's going to elevate that chargers defense to a new level.

Only thing that makes that James pick sting less is if Miller becomes a franchise LT. 

If Miller becomes a franchise LT we aren't going to give a damn about James

[Geezy]

When did Tom Cable become a terrible coach? He did a great job while in Oakland the first time around and gave us a run game.

In Seattle, they didn't invest much into their OL but he seemed to be turning George Fant into a  LT before he went down last season. 

 

After studying Miller a little, he is a big dude with some good feet. He has a couple things that are correctable, he seems to have a problem with his first step, and that will be ironed out with reps. He can also be better with his hands. Cable has his work cut out, but it's not some impossible feat. 

 

OT was our biggest need, and there were some really good players available, but if he pans out this will end up being a good pick. I think a lot of the panic in here is because guys we all had projected to us, Were there  for the taking and we passed for an OT in a perceived weak draft class. I was bummed last night, but I will continue to trust the process and wait till I see it on the field before I pass judgement. 

Edited April 27, 2018 by Geezy

[RaidersAreOne]

After reading up on him, it sounds like his main weakness is his balance/bend. He is so tall that he can often be toppled due to not getting low enough. That should be correctable with a solid technician and getting stronger. He does have the athleticism to be a LT imo, but quite frankly he is very raw. I would be weary having him line up day 1 to protect Carr.

[ZoomWaffle]

So many problems with this. 

-Traded back 5 spots to a team who was absolutely desperate for a QB so they could take one of the top QBs of the draft and all we got was a 3rd and 5th. We should've been able to get their 2nd rounder instead of their 3rd. 

-Took an injury-prone OT with serious consistency issues 15+ spots too early

-Took that OT when there were two elite, top-10 talent defensive prospects available

-Traded a 3rd for Bryant. Love his talent but he's a FA after this year. If he does well, next year we'll have to pay him big bucks or he'll be gone

The draft gives me anxiety every year and it's for reasons like this. I felt sick last night waiting for this to happen and even worse after it did. I'm trying to remind myself that these guys are professionals and know what they're doing, but

[Chali21]

8 hours ago, oakdb36 said:

I can see the comparison to Veldheer but there was value in getting Veldheer in the 3rd. Not this time.

Veldheer also came from hillsdale if he came from UCLA he’d have been a 1st rounder. 

[OG_C2X]

People need to stop saying we passed on surefire picks. I don't like Milton and I like James but he is a tweener that doesn't have a true position. And Edmunds is an absolute bust waiting to happen. It's not like we passed on Chubb for him. 

Calm down people

[Chali21]

3 minutes ago, OG_C2X said:

People need to stop saying we passed on surefire picks. I don't like Milton and I like James but he is a tweener that doesn't have a true position. And Edmunds is an absolute bust waiting to happen. It's not like we passed on Chubb for him. 

Calm down people

Yeah, i was on the James train but you are right, he has no position but I wanted his alpha dog mentality. If Miller pans out the Raiders are set up well. 

[RaidersAreOne]

5 minutes ago, OG_C2X said:

People need to stop saying we passed on surefire picks. I don't like Milton and I like James but he is a tweener that doesn't have a true position. And Edmunds is an absolute bust waiting to happen. It's not like we passed on Chubb for him. 

Calm down people

I think you are getting tweener and versatile confused. James can play both S positions as well as OLB in certain packages. 

[Roninho]

15 minutes ago, ZoomWaffle said:

So many problems with this. 

-Traded back 5 spots to a team who was absolutely desperate for a QB so they could take one of the top QBs of the draft and all we got was a 3rd and 5th. We should've been able to get their 2nd rounder instead of their 3rd. You can only get value if there is competition from teams in the #11 to #20 range (i don't think we wanted to move outside of #20). If another team seriously wanted to move up we would have gotten more, i mean you make those 5-10 calls saying #10 is available but we need a 2nd round pick. The fact that they only got a 3rd and a 5th shows there was limited interest.

-Took an injury-prone OT with serious consistency issues 15+ spots too early He was mocked no later then #23 in 10 out of 11 mocks on nfl.com, so he wasn't drafted 15+ spots to early

-Took that OT when there were two elite, top-10 talent defensive prospects available Well they have to prove they are elite but there were indeed a lot of interesting options in other areas of needs. Apparently we really really value our need for OT, which makes some sense with a 35 year LT and no RT on the roster to protect your franchise QB.

-Traded a 3rd for Bryant. Love his talent but he's a FA after this year. If he does well, next year we'll have to pay him big bucks or he'll be gone At least we have the money to do that, so lets hope we have to pay big $ (then at least he has been balling)

The draft gives me anxiety every year and it's for reasons like this. I felt sick last night waiting for this to happen and even worse after it did. I'm trying to remind myself that these guys are professionals and know what they're doing, but

I'm not saying it is a great draft so far, but the sky is not falling.

[NCOUGHMAN]

8 hours ago, Chwf3rd25 said:

Not true and actually the opposite.  The Vic Tafur (who is seemingly really well connected into this staff/FO this draft) article in the Athletic said the following:

1. Apparently we had two different draft boards (I'm assuming one was Reggie and the scouts and the other was Gruden and his staffs)

2. We didn't do any mock drafts before the draft like almost every other team does

3. Our 1st option was Roquan Smith

4. Our 2nd option was either Mike McGlinchey or Derwin James, with the coaches wanting McGlinchey and Reggie + scouts wanting Derwin.  

5. Once McGlinchey was gone the coaching staff wanted Kolton Miller and Reggie + the scouts wanted Derwin James. Obviously Gruden + Cable won out.

This whole situation seems pretty toxic to be honest and we looked incredibly unprepared + disorganized. 

 

Not buying that this is on reg and Gruden evenly. Where’s the 100million $ man tho and where is Davis jr? 

[RaidersAreOne]

I have a buddy who was involved with training the UCLA Football team and he reached out to me after seeing us draft him. He said Kolton is an awesome dude who works extremely hard. At least we know he isn't a lazy dirtbag. 

[Bitty 2.0]

1 hour ago, big_palooka said:

Except if the GM had his way, they would have. Because Jospeh is JAG and Obi can't get on the field. James would have been a leader and difference maker day 1. He's going to elevate that chargers defense to a new level.

Only thing that makes that James pick sting less is if Miller becomes a franchise LT. 

 I don’t know GM’s usually don’t like to admit when they’re wrong about a player.

i still think Obi could be a solid player for the Raiders.