Raiders Opinion: Never A Boring Draft Weeekend

   Following the completion of the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, many Raiders fans were left with an awful taste in their mouths as once again. The front office deviated from general consensus and selected a player very few anticipated. Prior to the draft, Alex Leatherwood profiled as a solid second-round talent. He boasted an impressive season at Alabama. However, his Senior Bowl performance fell flat.

Initial Hope

  At the time the commissioner announced the 17^th overall pick, essentially any defensive player would satiate many. Yet, like the years prior, Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock veered off the script. One of the major issues surrounds the lack of trust established from previous years’ questionable first-round picks. The Raiders seemed prone to blunder their first-round pick while making up for it in the later rounds. As news emerged, it began to settle in that the Raiders fared well during the early rounds of the 2021 NFL Draft.

Reaction

  As whispers began to filter through social media, multiple teams saw Leatherwood as a solid steal in the early 20s. As a result, taking him at seventeen was far from a reach. Herein resides the problem with mock drafts. On the surface, mock drafts are a fun way to see how each individual person would draft for a certain team. On the other hand, in this case, guessing wrong does not mean the pick is wrong.

Rebound Pick

  After getting another impressive building block to the team’s new and (hopefully) improved offensive line, the Raiders shifted their focus to defense, trading up to take the top-ranked safety in the draft, Trevon Moehrig. The trade-up played a significant role as many saw the Dallas Cowboys taking him immediately.

Upside Selections

  Following suit, the Raiders would take two more defensive players with back-to-back picks (79, 80) in the third round: defensive end Malcolm Koonce and hybrid safety/linebacker Divine Deablo. The seventeenth pick in any draft is always a bit prone to reaches, as there is not typically a no-doubter waiting in the wings, but a well-known, expected player is not typically too much to ask for.

Realism

  With Las Vegas, the first-round pick is a once-bitten, twice shy scenario where the team has seemingly done more harm than good with their first-round picks. In return, that leaves fans incredibly squeamish when the Raiders submit their pick. The Leatherwood selection shocked many. Yet, despite a trust deficit, the front office’s drafting strategy, the Raiders found their right tackle of the future. Plus, but they may also have restored some faith in their draft process.