Oakland Raiders: Updated post-Free Agency 3-round mock draft

The Oakland Raiders blazed through free agency, making some splashy moves and some under-the radar-good ones. Let’s look at how it could possibly impact their draft.

Give Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock credit — they got people talking about the team this offseason and injected some hope into a franchise and fanbase that sorely needed it.

And more importantly, they made the team better.

Although the main thrust of free agency is over, Mayock and Gruden keep adding pieces and fleshing out a roster that had holes everywhere. By the end of last season, you could have listed the areas of strength on this roster with one hand — and still had fingers left over.

Such is the nature of going full-scorched earth on a roster as you seek to build something new atop those flaming ruins. And so far, Gruden and Mayock have done a pretty good job of assembling a group of players who can definitely help turn this moribund franchise around.

Adding Vontaze Burfict and Brandon Marshall to a linebackers group that’s been an area of weakness for this team for years and years provides some stability (Marshall) and ferocity (Burfict) with shades of those intimidating Raiders of old thrown in.

It remains to be seen whether Burfict can keep his head on straight, but if he can, he’ll help elevate what’s traditionally been one of the weakest positional groups in the entire league. As will Marshall.

Adding offensive tackle Trent Brown was a very solid move. They obviously overpaid for him but he may just be worth that hefty deal if he can help keep Derek Carr from getting pancaked every other play.

Brown’s presence should allow them to slide Kolton Miller over to the right side where he can work on becoming a better NFL lineman and not the one who showed flashes but still gave up double-digit sacks last year.

Lamarcus Joyner adds some experience and versatility to Oakland’s defensive backfield and should help shore up a passing defense that was at or near the very bottom of the barrel in most major statistical categories.

Ditto that with the signings of Nevin Lawson and Curtis Riley. Adding those three guys to a defensive backfield that features Karl Joseph. Gareon Conley, Erik Harris, and Daryl Worley, and the Raiders might be a bit tougher to throw on this season.

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Running back Isaiah Crowell is a solid add as he brings a big body to the Oakland backfield. With Marshawn Lynch and Doug Martin not expected back (though things could change), the Raiders had just Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington as their only viable backs — so clearly, they needed some help.

The addition of Crowell will definitely help and he should be a good fit in Gruden’s offense, but they will likely want to still address the position in the draft.

Wide receiver is probably the most radically altered position group and has quickly become one of the most interesting — and likely one of the better — receiving groups in the league. The addition of Antonio Brown — arguably the best receiver in the game today — along with Tyrell Williams and J.J. Nelson has given Carr a tremendous arsenal of weapons to work with. And one that should help him become the franchise signal caller we’ve all been waiting to see.

If nothing else, these Raiders should be fun to watch.

Although the Gruden/Mayock brain trust has addressed many areas of need and depth concerns via free agency, they still have some very specific needs. Desperate needs, actually. And they’ll look to address those needs via the draft.

Using Fanspeak’s “On the Clock” draft simulator, we ran a three-round post-free agency mock draft to see if the Raiders address those remaining areas of need.

Let’s see how we did…