NFL Draft season at last!
With the combine the Senior Bowl and the first wave of free agency in our rearview, it’s time for one of my favorite periods of the year: the lead-up to the NFL Draft. As I’ve become accustomed to, the Las Vegas Raiders are drafting very high — which makes regular seasons tough, but draft season awesome.
As it stands today, the Raiders have 12 picks in the 2023 Draft — one in each round, plus an extra third, two extra fifths, an extra sixth, and an extra seventh. The premium picks are at No. 7, No. 38, No. 70, No. 100 and No. 109 — but whether or not they hold onto all of those picks will remain to be seen.
The reason I say that is because the Raiders — despite adding Jimmy Garoppolo — still might be poised to add an impact player at the sport’s most important position, which won’t be cheap.
Could they move two of those first picks in the first four rounds in addition to a future pick to move up? I don’t think anyone would be surprised.
Of course, the opposite could be true as well: what if the quarterbacks they like are all off the board before No. 7 — could the Raiders move back and add some premium picks? Also not impossible to imagine.
The truth is, the Raiders don’t just need a quarterback — they’re also lacking at every level of the defense and along the offensive line. If I were to rank the team’s biggest needs (which can be addressed through free agency as well), I’d have it like this:
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Quarterback
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Right Tackle
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Cornerback (multiple)
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Defensive Tackle (multiple)
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Guard (multiple)
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Defensive End
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Linebacker
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Safety
As I look at that list, it’s easy to notice pretty quickly that we’re talking about a lot of premium positions with holes on the roster. These aren’t spots that you can expect to find real difference makers at late in the draft necessarily, so General Manager Dave Ziegler has his work cut out for him.
With all this in mind, welcome to part one of a series we do most years (it helps when the team has a first-rounder) called “PICK or PASS”, in which we compile a number of pieces ranging from mock drafts, player breakdowns and a big board — all aimed at analyzing the first round targets the Raiders could (or should) be considering.
We’ll start with “Mock Draft 1.0” next, and then we’ll move into 10-11 pieces analyzing individual players — the top quarterbacks, offensive linemen, defensive linemen and defensive backs — which each conclude with a verdict from me on whether the Raiders should PICK the player or PASS (essentially: would I be happy if said player was the pick at No. 7?). The series will close with a second version of my Raiders mock draft during Draft Week, as well as my final Big Board.
In short: tons of draft content coming your way, so thanks for coming along for the ride!
