Raiders’ NFL Draft buzz: Las Vegas needs to find 3 defensive starters

EUGENE, OR - SEPTEMBER 10:Christian Gonzalez #0 of the Oregon Ducks against the Eastern Washington Eagles at Autzen Stadium on September 10, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty Images)

Apr 12, 2023

That Raiders’ brass has been busy grinding in the draft room since the NFL owners’ meetings two weeks ago, with 37-year-old backup quarterback Brian Hoyer as the only roster addition. Yeah, he is another former Patriot and that makes 12 players and eight coaches (former receiver Danny Amendola joined the staff) who can do the secret Patriots handshake with coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler.

But who cares?

If McZieg can’t turn things around after a rough first season, it won’t be because of how many Patriots they brought in. It will be because they didn’t draft well. Which makes the next three weeks very exciting.

The NFL Draft is in 15 days, and while the Raiders have wined and dined and drawn plays up on the whiteboard with all the top quarterbacks in the draft, they have a pretty clear mandate with their 12 draft picks — five of them coming in the top 109.

Ziegler has to find three defensive starters.

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A cornerback would be ideal, a linebacker would be lovely, but a safety or defensive tackle would be fine, too.

The Raiders haven’t done much to address their 26th-ranked defense, and instead signed quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, a couple of veteran tight ends to replace Darren Waller and a lot of receivers. (We sure they’re not trading Hunter Renfrow on draft weekend?)

Ziegler is scheduled to talk to reporters in a league-mandated media session next week, at which point the Raiders will be close to finished with their top 30 visits of college prospects. The Raiders have met with all of the top quarterbacks, just in case they decided to trade up from No. 7.

All told, the Raiders have completed more than half of the player visits to the team facility. (Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter has not come in yet, though he still might. We reported on March 30 that he would not be an option at No. 7 after he pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges of racing and reckless driving. Later that day, McDaniels denied that report through the Las Vegas Review-Journal and said they were still doing their due diligence on Carter and that he would be in for a visit soon.)

There is not a lot of loud buzz around the Raiders right now, because even those national “insiders” and reporters close to Ziegler and McDaniels who say the Raiders may trade up to No. 3 to get who’s ever left of Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Alabama’s Bryce Young and Florida’s Anthony Richardson say it with a scrunched-up face. As in, the Raiders realize they probably shouldn’t do it, but maybe a deal comes up that is just too good to pass up.

The problem is there are so many other holes to address on a team that was 6-11 last season, and they already gave Garoppolo $33.75 million guaranteed.

Ziegler and McDaniels have sold owner Mark Davis on taking a long approach, and in a recent interview with The Athletic’s Tashan Reed, McDaniels said, “hopefully, two years from now, three years from now” the Raiders will have a team they are proud of. But McDaniels has to balance that slower timeline with what he tells star players Davante Adams, Maxx Crosby and Josh Jacobs. They are in the prime of their careers and want to win now.

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And in my opinion, selling Adams, Crosby and Jacobs on using a top-seven pick and more on a future quarterback after guaranteeing Garoppolo at least $33.75 million is a tough one. Even if McDaniels practices it in the mirror a bunch of times. That’d come at the expensive of drafting an impact cornerback like Illinois’ Devon Witherspoon or Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez or trading down for more picks and more players who can improve the team immediately.

While I have not been shy about my crush on Witherspoon, Gonzalez is a clean prospect with great size, talent and college game film. In Dane Brugler’s aptly-named “The Beast” draft guide (hot off his keyboard Monday), Brugler ranks the 6-foot-1, 197-Gonzalez as the fifth-best player in the draft.

Gonzalez “accelerates well to match vertical routes and press receivers along the sideline (his 1.81 “flying 20” led all cornerbacks at the combine),” Brugler wrote. He is “calm and fluid in his turns, with the footwork and thin ankles to spring in any direction. His route instincts help him stay within arm’s length without hanging on receivers (only three pass interference penalties over the last two seasons).”

Gonzalez can also catch the ball and his tackling could use a little work, but is not bad.

Brugler is not as high on Texas Tech edge rusher Tyree Wilson, but much like quarterbacks, elite edge rushers are hard to find and teams drafting in the top 10 have a hard time passing them up. Wilson, according to Brugler, “plays too upright and needs to become craftier and more strategic in his pass rush, but his length, speed and raw power are outstanding foundational traits. His ascending tools are ripe for development, and he has Pro Bowl potential.”

Good edge rushers are hard to pass up and that could make Tyree Wilson an option. (Michael C. Johnson / USA Today)

There are other intriguing cornerback prospects if the Raiders choose to trade down, and we have some other thoughts on trade-down ideas that we’ll hit on next week.

We do think it’s safe to say that the Raiders won’t be drafting a receiver in their first five picks. After all, they added Jakobi Meyers, Phillip Dorsett, Cam Sims and DeAndre Carter in free agency and re-signed Keelan Cole to a group that has Adams and Renfrow.

There were some hot Renfrow trade rumors two months ago, but they died down after the Raiders traded Waller to the Giants. McDaniels said two weeks ago that he is still excited about working with Renfrow, who missed seven games last season and finished with 35 catches for 330 yards.

Mailbag alert: We realize that 15 days is a long time to bottle up all your enthusiasm. So, fire off any questions, television shows — “Ted Lasso” has become cringey and I need something else besides “Barry” — or life advice below in the comments and I will get to it Friday morning.

Additional Reading

(Top photo of Christian Gonzalez: Tom Hauck / Getty Images)

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Vic Tafur is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Las Vegas Raiders and the NFL. He previously worked for 12 years at the San Francisco Chronicle and also writes about boxing and mixed martial arts. Follow Vic on Twitter @VicTafur