The Oakland Raiders have drafted a star in each of the last three drafts in the first round. In two of those years, they even drafted stars in the second round. This year, at least in this mock draft, make room for another one in Christian McCaffrey.
They say it takes three drafts to rebuild your franchise if you pick the right players. Oakland Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie has done that after two years of deconstruction. This is why he is getting a lot of well-deserved praised heaped on him these days.
The former Raiders player has truly come back home to save his team. OLB Khalil Mack, WR Amari Cooper and SS Karl Joseph are McKenzie’s 1st-round picks since 2014. And all of them have made or are making and immediate impact and stars on the team.
QB Derek Carr, an MVP candidate so far this year, came in the second round. DE Mario Edwards Jr., who has yet to play this year because of injury, is a 2nd-round star too. The Raiders are contenders now so they’ll likely pick much lower in the draft.
But this is a deep draft, particularly at edge rusher and running back. And in this draft, I have the Raiders getting RB Christian McCaffrey, who is one of the stars in it. This year’s draft is pretty deep so the Raiders can find a player like that so low in the draft.
Turn the page to see how McCaffrey helps the Raiders and who they pick from there.