Latest Round 2 Mocks Have Raiders Taking a WR, a DT and a Safety

After taking Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick in the NFL draft on Thursday, the Raiders didn’t trade back into the first round and tonight they are sitting on the fourth pick in the second round.

Other than University of Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson being drafted by the Rams with the 13th pick, there weren’t any major surprises in the first round and, presumably, the Raiders feel good about the players still on the board going into Friday night.

Going into the draft, two popular names for the Raiders in the second round were University of Washington wide receiver Denzel Boston and Ohio State defensive tackle Kayden McDonald. Both players are still available, but ESPN’s Matt Miller projected on Friday morning that the Buffalo Bills will jump ahead of the Raiders and take Boston.

With McDonald still on the board, Miller has the Raiders taking University of Arizona safety Treydan Stukes.

Todd McShay released his round 2 “Flash Mock” on Friday morning and he has Boston as the top prospect remaining in the draft.

McShay projects T.J. Park (Clemson), Cashius Howell (Texas A&M) and Emmanuel Pregnon (Oregon) being drafted ahead of the Raiders on Friday night and the Raiders taking Boston over McDonald.

And for what it’s worth, McShay has Stukes (Miller’s pick) falling to the Cincinnati Bengals at pick 41.

ESPN’s Ben Solak is on board with the Raiders taking Boston and made his case for the pick going into day 2 of the draft…

“The Raiders are well-equipped to support Fernando Mendoza. They’ve invested heavily in their offensive line, including the big free agent signing of center Tyler Linderbaum (though I’d love to see another middle-round tackle). They’ve added several pass catchers over the past couple of offseasons, including Brock Bowers, Jack Bech, Dont’e Thornton Jr. and Jalen Nailor. They’re missing just one thing: a big-bodied “X” receiver to take advantage of Mendoza’s lethal back-shoulder ball,” Solak wrote on Friday morning.

“How lucky for them that Boston slid out of Round 1,” Solak continued. “He isn’t the smoothest route runner with the sharpest cuts, but he’s plenty functional for his size, and his ability to track and win the ball in the air is exactly what the Raiders need. Boston has a better second gear than he’s given credit for and has vacuum hands downfield. I’d wager he would quickly win Mendoza’s trust and become a three-down player in a Raiders receivers room that needs a star to emerge.”

It’s possible the Raiders could trade down with so many solid players remaining on the board, but a series of comments this week from the California Post’s Vinny Bonsignore might suggest they will hold on to their pick in the second round this year.

According to Bonsignore, the Raiders might have missed on a player they wanted in the second round by trading down too many times a year ago.

“I think there were some things that they learned from [last year’s draft]. I think maybe if they had to do it over again, maybe they don’t trade down twice in the second round. I think that maybe they might have missed out on a guy that they thought could have been there at one of those turns in the second round that they surrendered,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s JT the Brick Show on Wednesday.

“But, you know, those are learning experiences. They still ended up with a couple of offensive linemen out of those trades that they really like in the third round, Caleb Rogers and Charles Grant, that could be starters this year. So maybe that all works out because that’s how they end up getting those two players.”

Bonsignore didn’t identify the player he thought the Raiders might have been targeting in the second round, but the trades they made were from pick 37 to pick 48 and then traded pick 48 to pick 58 where they drafted Texas Christian wide receiver Jack Bech.

x: @raidersbeat