The Las Vegas Raiders headed into the 2022 NFL Draft without a first or second-round pick. The team recently traded those picks to the Green Bay Packers for arguably the best wide receiver in the league, Davante Adams.
With the uncharacteristically drafting in the later rounds, the Silver and Black faithful had to wait until the third round before Las Vegas was officially on the clock. The biggest need for the Raiders coming into the draft was on the offensive line to give Derek Carr some protection up front.
With that being said, it came as no surprise that the team’s first selection in the draft was a guard. That player turned out to be Dylan Parham out of Memphis, with the 90th overall selection.
Going straight for the biggest area of need was a promising sign for a Raiders franchise that has made some head-scratching moves in the past. New general manager Dave Ziegler and head coach Josh McDaniels were off to a good start.
In round four of the draft, the Raiders decided to address another part of the offense by drafting a running back. Earlier in the day, the team let it be known that they were not picking up the fifth-year option on Josh Jacobs’ contract, which made for an interesting dynamic in the draft, especially after selecting Zamir White out of Georgia at 122 overall.
White wasn’t the only running back selected by the Raiders during the draft, as they also chose to finish off their picks with a seventh-round selection of Brittain Brown out of UCLA.
Later in the fourth round, the Raiders addressed the defensive side of the football for the first time in the draft. Las Vegas selected defensive tackle Neil Farrell Jr. out of LSU at 126 overall. Bolstering the defensive tackle position continued to be the team’s direction in the fifth round, with Ziegler and company going with Matthew Butler out of Tennessee at 175 overall.
Finally, in the last round of the draft, the Raiders chose to bring in another offensive lineman, with the team selecting Thayer Munford out of Ohio State at 238 overall. Brown turned out to be the team’s final selection at 250 overall.
Although selecting two running backs was strange, considering the team brought in Brandon Bolden and Ameer Abdullah to join Kenyan Drake and Jacobs. There could be another move on the horizon to mix things up in the crowded backfield, but as for now, that is one position that remains a question mark moving forward.
As for the other selections, the Raiders seem to have done what was expected or at least hoped for by the fans of the Silver and Black. Las Vegas has some offensive lineman to throw in the mix and some defensive lineman to add to a talented team on both sides of the football.
