The 2019 draft class for the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders was a special one as they brought in promising young players like Josh Jacobs, Maxx Crosby, Johnathan Abram, Clelin Ferrell and Trayvon Mullen.
They also figured out the fullback position by bringing in Alec Ingold out of Wisconsin as an undrafted free agent.
In just his first NFL season, Ingold was one of the best fullbacks in the league, consistently opening up big holes for Jacobs while also converting whenever he got the ball on third or fourth-and-short.
In an interview with Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Ingold revealed that while going undrafted was a disappointment, it ended up being for the best as he landed with the Raiders:
“One of the worst days of my life,” he said. “You do everything right for such a long period of time, you’re healthy, you’re lucky, people are telling you you’re the best fullback. Then you don’t get drafted and it’s like — I mean hindsight is 20/20 because absolutely the best thing that could have happened was me going to the Raiders — but it definitely didn’t feel that way on draft day.”
Ingold also let people into his mindset on draft day, which shifted to making a team after he didn’t hear his name called:
“And that was what helped me realize that, like, today wasn’t really the goal,” Ingold said thinking back to draft day. “The goal is September 1st and being on the active roster and earning a starting job. That’s the goal. So it’s almost like my vision grew. I was able to see who I really wanted to be. … I was like, OK, so this is what I thought we were going after, but actually it’s about something much bigger.”
While going undrafted was the best thing to happen to Ingold, it was also one of the best things to happen to the Raiders as they now have the fullback position locked up by one of the best in the league for years to come.
It was clear that the run game was a focus of the Raiders in 2019, and that is expected to be the case even more in 2020 with Jacobs and Ingold going into their second seasons.
