Oakland Raiders draft class big on potential, bigger on ifs and maybes

The Oakland Raiders just concluded their first draft of the Jon Gruden 2.0 era and the results are decidedly mixed – a lot of potential, possibly more questions.

Wow. The Oakland Raiders draft weekend had it all, didn’t it? Drama. Suspense. Thrills. Chills. Elation. Mortification. HC Jon Gruden and GM Reggie McKenzie took us on quite the emotional roller coaster through those seven rounds, didn’t they?

Over the course of three days, they took us to the pinnacle of elation and dropped us to rock bottom as well – and hit everything else in between.

And in looking at the slate of draft picks coming in, we can see that this year’s rookie class is huge on potential – and is possibly even bigger on ifs and maybes.

Take for example, first-round pick Kolton Miller. When the Raiders traded back in the first-round, it wasn’t all that surprising. When they used that fifteenth overall pick on Miller though, it was downright shocking, given most viewed him as a likely second-round prospect.

He’s a big, strong man, there is no question about that. And his Combine performance was tremendous. But, there are still lingering questions about his technique, and problem areas with his game that need to be smoothed out if he’s ever going to become the heir to Donald Penn‘s position on Derek Carr‘s blind side.

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If, Miller can refine his technique and improve his overall game, he could be a monster for this offensive line and hold it down on the left side for a long time to come. If.

They then flipped the seventy-ninth overall pick they acquired from Arizona for moving back five spots to snag receiver Martavis Bryant from Pittsburgh. Bryant is an incredibly talented player who could potentially have a big impact on this offense – with the obvious caveat, of “if he has his head on right.” Again, if.

With their second-round pick, the nabbed Sam Houston State defensive tackle P.J. Hall. At six-foot-one, 310 pounds, Hall is powerhouse. He’s got a blend of strength, speed, and athleticism uncommon to men his size.

And that blend of attributes allowed him to put together an incredible resume over his four seasons (284 combined tackles – an overwhelming 86.5 of those for a loss, 42 sacks, four picks, nine forced fumbles, and an unreal 14 blocked kicks.

The questions come though, in the level of competition he played against – and that’s probably one reason most scouts had him ranked a third to fourth round prospect. It’s going to be a massive leap forward in terms of the level of competition moving from a small school to the NFL and all the Raiders can do now is hope he can make the jump.

If Hall can make the transition and be the type of force on the interior of their line they so desperately need, the Raiders will be in good shape. Once again though, if.

Oakland traded up to the top of the third-round, giving up a couple of draft picks to grab North Carolina A&T offensive tackle Brandon Parker – despite most scouts pegging him as a fourth to fifth-round prospect.

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Though physically, he’s very gifted, there are some serious flaws to Parker’s game that make him more of a project than immediate contributor. And correct us if we’re wrong, but don’t they already have a few guys like that in David Sharpe, Jylan Ware, and Vadal Alexander?

Depth is never a bad thing, but burning a third-round pick for a depth guy? That’s absolute madness.

However – say it with us now – if Parker can work and improve on some of his technique issues, he could be the bookend to Miller on the other side, and give the Raiders two of the more physically imposing tackles in the league.

There’s that word again though – IF.

By now, you should get the gist of where this is going…

The overwhelming sense from most corners is that Gruden made like Plastic-Man and reached on some of these picks. Like really, really reached. It was clear he came in with a plan to fortify the trenches – to give Carr some solid protection as well as beef up the pass rush.

That wasn’t a bad strategy at all. Games are won and lost in the trenches, after all.

The question though is, will this year’s draft class be able to do what he’s hoping. Will they be able to fortify the trenches? Will Miller and Parker be able to provide solid protection for Carr? Will Hall be as explosive on the interior of the defensive line as he was in college?

The only thing that’s certain at this point is that there is a lot of work ahead of them. Most all of the rookies Oakland has coming in have some glaring flaws to their games and the coaching staff is going to need to be on point to iron them out.

There’s no denying the potential of this group is off the charts. And let’s be fair – no draft pick is completely devoid of warts. Every single player taken in all seven rounds have deficiencies in some area of their game – some, more than others.

What’s a little concerning is that Gruden has gone out of his way to talk about the team needing more production out of their draft classes if they’re going to compete. And with rookies who have so much to learn as they seek to improve their technique enough to be competitive at the NFL level, it begs the question – how much can they expect to get out of their draft class?

There is some major league potential in Oakland’s group of rookies. That ceiling is sky high and if they round into form, this could be a powerful and dynamic class. They may play so well that any questions about whether or not Gruden reached will be null and void.

But those pesky, troubling words, “if,” “could be,” and “potential,” when this team needs players who can step in and contribute on day one, should be enough to give us all pause as this team seeks to right their ship after a miserable 2017 season.

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