Oakland Raiders: Re-Drafting the 2017 class using the power of hindsight

Round 1 (24) – Gareon Conley

McKenzie rolled the dice when he used the twenty-fourth overall pick on Conley. Though, at the time, he said they were comfortable that Conley would be cleared in a pending legal action, it was a toss-up. At best.

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Well, Conley prevailed, being cleared of all charges, and was free to begin his professional football career. Except, that it didn’t quite work out that way as Conley essentially took a medical redshirt for his rookie season with a lingering shin injury, seeing the field for all of 96 defensive snaps.

Now, he flashed tremendous upside and ability in those 96 snaps, but he also showed that he’s got a long way to go to be the elite NFL corner many think he can be.

Add to that, the many questions about his maturity and work ethic – both should be huge red flags to anybody paying attention – and it makes it easy to swap out this pick.

With the twenty-fourth overall pick, we’re going to select a guy who went three picks later to the Buffalo Bills.

Tre’Davious White‘s (Rd. 1, twenty-seventh overall, Buffalo)  rookie season was impressive by every measurable out there. He started all 16 games for Buffalo as a rookie, collecting 69 total tackles (53 solo), one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries – one for a touchdown – 18 passes defensed, and four interceptions.

White came in second in defensive rookie of the year voting to the Saints’ Marshon Lattimore, and best of all, had zero questions about his maturity and work ethic. By all accounts, he’s been a good teammate, solid locker room presence, and is a tireless worker.

Or, you know, just the sort of stabilizing force this Raiders secondary could have used last season.

With hindsight being what it is, the twenty-fourth overall pick should have been used on White.