The Las Vegas Raiders can go any number of directions with their top-10 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. Offense or defense, linemen or skill positions, even a quarterback could be in play when the Raiders get on the clock with the seventh overall selection.
The Raiders have been doing their due diligence on a number of different prospects in the lead up to the draft, and their latest meeting is with a player who plays a position most wouldn’t expect the Raiders to be looking at near the top of the draft.
The Raiders are set to meet with Boston College wide receiver Zay Flowers, an explosive big-play player capable of taking the top off the defense, via Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk:
According to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero, Zay Flowers of Boston College is taking a top 30 visit with Las Vegas on Tuesday.
Flowers caught 78 passes for 1,077 yards with 12 touchdowns as a senior in 2022. He was a significant contributor in all four years at Boston College, racking up 200 receptions for 3,056 yards with 29 TDs. He also rushed for 345 yards and two touchdowns over his career.
This is a bit of an interesting meeting here as Flowers doesn’t seem to be in the range where the Raiders will be selecting. Most mocks have Flowers being taken in the mid-to-late first round so the Raiders taking him with the seventh pick would be a huge surprise, but it also seems unlikely that he would drop to the Raiders’ second-round pick at 38th overall.
Of course, there is always the possibility of a trade. The Raiders could choose to trade down from the seventh pick and get armed with a later selection in the first round. Likewise, if Flowers were to drop some, the Lakers could look to trade back into the first round if they really want to bring him in.
But the Raiders eyeing a wide receiver at all this early in the draft would be something of a surprise considering the pass catchers they have on hand already. The team added receiver Jakobi Meyers and tight ends Austin Hooper and O.J. Howard to returning wideouts DaVante Adams and Hunter Renfrow so there are other areas of more pressing need.
This is surely a case of the Raiders simply getting familiar with all potential players as you never know how things will shake out in the draft. But if Flowers is brought in, it will bring about a number of questions as to the future of Renfrow with the franchise as Flowers brings a lot of the same traits to the table.
