Oakland Raiders: Go defense heavy in initial seven-round mock draft

The Oakland Raiders are heading into the Draft with some glaring holes to fill. Let’s take a look at our first, way too early, very likely to change, seven-round mock draft.

The Oakland Raiders, depending on how that coin flip goes, will either be selecting ninth or tenth in the upcoming Draft.

We’re not going to let that stop us, though.

We ran a mock draft, based on the assumption that Roger Goodell will find some way to make sure the Raiders lose the coin flip and end up selecting tenth, behind the San Francisco 49ers, rather than ninth.

Oakland has some holes to fill – most notably, on the defensive side of the ball.

Linebackers, edge rushers, defensive tackles, corners, and safeties – yeah, the Raiders need some help all over the place, on every level of that defense. Luckily, this year’s Draft offers up a lot of talent on that side of the ball.

The offense is going to need some help as well, with both the wide receiver and running back positions seemingly in flux. We still don’t know the status of Marshawn Lynch and Michael Crabtree, among others. However, the Raiders will need to bring in some young talent, regardless.

The most pressing need though, is on the defensive side of the football. Oakland’s defense has been a three-alarm dumpster fire the last few years, and the team needs an influx of talent to start righting that ship.

Knowing that, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise then, that the Raiders will use their 11 picks in the upcoming Draft to invest heavily on defense. As they should.

So, without further ado, let’s look at one man’s way too early, very likely to change, seven-round mock draft…