The 2020 NFL Draft was one for the record books as for first and hopefully the only time in NFL history, the draft was conducted from a completely virtual setting.
With the draft behind them, the Las Vegas Raiders came away with seven new players, all of which fit some very immediate positional needs. The Raiders added cornerbacks, linebackers and wide receivers to help fill in the most glaring holes from last year’s roster, which were also positions they didn’t address as much in free agency.
In just his second draft, Raiders general manager Mike Mayock has proven to be very deliberate in his process of selecting a player. Although Mayock has shown dedication to his craft, he stated that it was hard not to stray from the Raiders draft plan and trust themselves, via Kyle Martin of Raiders.com:
“I have a lot of respect for a lot of people. I texted good friend of mine yesterday who is a GM and said to him, ‘I love your draft. You stay patient every year and you trust your board.’ It sounds really simple, but it’s so frickin’ hard to do,” Mayock emphasized. “That’s what they’ve done for years and that’s what Jon and I have been talking about ever since I’ve been here. We’re joined together at the hip. Let’s be patient, let’s trust the board. We’ve done all the work. We really don’t care what anybody outside our building thinks. We have one goal and that’s winning the Super Bowl.”
The Raiders have certainly seemed to enter into a different tier of the NFL this offseason. Last year they showed great potential, but this year they will be subject to great expectations. The additions via the draft definitely help to create those expectations, but the Raiders offseason signings will help as well.
Las Vegas brought in some savvy veterans that can help show the otherwise young squad how to be a winning professional in the NFL. One such player that was brought in was Jason Witten. He may not see much playing time during his 17th season in the league, but Mayock is hoping that Witten can use his leadership to help the younger players.
Mayock agreed that the additions they made both in the draft and free agency will help them get back to the postseason in 2020:
“We feel like we got better in free agency and I know we feel like we got better in the draft,” Mayock said after a moment of reflection. “Nobody is going know how much or if at all until we get out on the field and compete. That’s the thing I love about it.”
With less than five months until the start of preseason, soon everyone will know how good the Raiders offseason truly was.
