Last week, in his 3.0 mock draft, former ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay went with the popular pick for the Raiders at no. 6 and sent Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty to Las Vegas.
It’s possible the Raiders will target the top running back in this year’s deep class of running backs, but McShay has drifted away from Jeanty in his latest projections.
“Ashton Jeanty is one of my Tier 1 prospects, but he’s a running back. If you’re the Raiders picking at no. 6, do you draft the top edge defender on your board and hold out to see whether a player like TreVeyon Henderson is available when you pick again at no. 37? That’s what I’m hearing may happen,” McShay reported on Monday.
“It’s looking more likely that the Raiders could pass on Jeanty at 6 and target the best edge available, whether that be Jalon Walker or his UGA teammate Mykel Williams. My gut tells me Pete Carroll would opt for the traits of Williams, but it’s just a hunch.”
For more than a month, Jeanty has been the popular pick for the Raiders. More recently, though, Michigan DT Mason Graham and Missouri OT Armand Membou have been mentioned as possibilities.
“I know a lot of people think the Raiders are going to take a running back in round one, and they might, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they wound up going with a guy like [Armand] Membou, the offensive tackle, instead, over a running back,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter told Maxx Crosby on The Rush.
“I don’t know if anybody is going to trade up for any of these quarterbacks. I still think when all is said and done, we might only get two quarterbacks in the first round,” Schefter said. “That doesn’t mean I’m right, but I think it’s going to be fewer rather than more in this draft for quarterbacks… I think what’s more likely to happen , my guess would be that we see a run on some these [quarterbacks] on day 2.”
“The first night I think we get two quarterbacks. I think we get Cam Ward going one and Shedeur [Sanders], wherever he’s going to go, as high as number 3, maybe 9, maybe 21. We’ll see.”
Last week, the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore called Jeanty the “obvious pick” for Tom Brady and company if he’s still on the board at the sixth pick, and Raider fans mostly seem to agree.
“This is an obvious pick — assuming Jeanty is still on the board. There is growing speculation that the Jaguars might take him with the fifth pick,” Bonsignore wrote in Saturday’s mock draft.
“Jeanty would be a great fit for a Raiders offense that lacks difference-makers, has averaged fewer than 20 points per game for two straight seasons and turned winnable games into losses through sheer ineptness. He will not single-handedly transform the offense, but no player in the draft packs a more impactful punch.”
Last week, FOX Sports host Colin Cowherd projected Jeanty to the Raiders at no. 6 and league insider Jordan Schultz shared strong words on Jeanty’s fit in Las Vegas.
“I had a GM tell me a couple days ago that Ashton Jeanty is being slept on,” Schultz said on The Herd.
“I said ‘What do you mean? He’s going to be a top 5, top 10 pick.’ He said, ‘No, no, no. You don’t understand. This guy is a superstar. People are talking about him like he’s a good player, maybe a great player. He is a day one 1,500-yard guy.’”
With the draft now just three days away, it will be interesting to see if the consensus starts to move away from Jeanty at the no. 6 pick, or will the new regime in Las Vegas jump on the opportunity to take arguably the best running back prospect to enter the draft since Saquon Barkley?
Until now, Walker and Williams have rarely been discussed as strong possibilities for the Raiders with the no. 6 pick.
McShay certainly has well-connected sources in the industry so it will be interesting to see if he’s ahead of the curve on the players the Raiders are targeting at pick 6 or not.
Answers are coming soon.
x: @raidersbeat
Who’s turd mcshay???!
66.7% and climbing.