The Raiders’ first-round selection of Alex Leatherwood hasn’t received the most flattering media reviews, but by all accounts, everyone within the organization was pleased with the pick. For his part, GM Mike Mayock has been particularly transparent about the process that led to the Raiders making their first pick.
On Friday, Mayock talked to radio host JT The Brick on Las Vegas KLRV 920 AM – otherwise known as Raider Nation Radio. He was candid about the Raiders trade options and what led to the decision not to trade down.
“We were wide open to a potential trade down,” Mayock said. “Part of my job is to understand league value on every player. So if we got the right opportunity as far as draft pick compensation and didn’t have to trade down too far then we were wide open to trading down, but both of those things had to happen.”
“We had one phone call for a potential move down, did not like the compensation, felt like we would be at risk of getting Leatherwood and, quite frankly, there was no way in the world, in our opinion, he was going to be there at [pick] 48 in the second round. There were five tackles taken between 18 and 48, so if we had tried to wait for him in the second round he’d have never been there and that’s the guy we wanted all along.”
For what it’s worth, Mayock went on to say that Leatherwood was the highest-rated player on the Raiders’ board when they were on the clock at pick 17 and as Mayock mentioned last week, offensive coordinator Tom Cable and head coach Jon Gruden were both extremely high on Leatherwood.
The Raiders have executed a few questionable first-round picks over the last two years, so it’s fair to wonder if they got the Leatherwood pick right, but if they were going to gamble on a position… what better position than right tackle?
Kolton Miller was considered a project at left tackle in 2018 and he has become one of the better left tackles in the NFL in just his third season. If Leatherwood shares the same career trajectory as Miller there won’t be many complaints about the pick three years from now. Speaking of which, where did all the critics of the Miller pick disappear to lately?
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Mayock didn’t say what the offer was….leatherwood may not have been there at 48 but they surely wood have traded their pick 17 for a lower one between 18-32 and added a second or third. Leatherwood would have certainly been their 18-32……just another incomplete interview with no real answers.