Quote:
Originally Posted by Rain Man
Man, that Raiders draft.  |
Is that Raiders draft the reason their team collapsed this past season?
I think you could make the argument.
What's amazing is that the 2020 draft was sterling for our Super Bowl hopes, but not in the way you expect:
No. 32 – Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB (LSU)
No. 63 – Willie Gay, LB (Mississippi State)
No. 96 – Lucas Niang, OT (TCU)
No. 138 – L’Jarius Sneed, DB (Louisiana Tech)
No. 177 – Mike Danna, DE (Michigan)
No. 237 – BoPete Keyes, CB (Tulane)
UDFA: Yasir Durant, Tommy Townsend, Turk Wharton
We whiffed on two of our first three picks, but Veach crushed the rest of the draft so damn hard it's almost embarrassing. Sneed was our best corner, Danna a valuable cog in the passrush machine, Townsend was excellent down the stretch, especially in the AFCCG, and Durant was traded for a 7th that turned into Jaylen Watson.
I'm of the opinion that there's just no secret to nailing the third day + UDFAs. I think you just have to invest more and work harder to have a deeper, smarter draft board than everybody else.
It's interesting, because Veach kneecapped himself in 2020 with a bad start to the draft, but saved it by so thoroughly outworking the rest of the field that he helped build a Super Bowl squad in 2020 by crushing the
third day of the draft.
Guy is just a blessing as GM.