According to Sam Farmer of the LA Times, Myles Jack’s workout with the Raiders last week was, in fact, last minute. Farmer said the Raiders called Jack just before he was scheduled to fly to Atlanta to visit family. Jack cancelled his flight to Atlanta and flew to the UCLA campus to meet with Reggie McKenzie and Raiders’ training staff.
“For them to call me like that and say, ‘Hey, we want to work you out,’ it was a no-brainer for me,” Jack told the LA Times. “I was about to get on a flight to go to my family, but when they called I was like, ‘If Raider Nation wants me to be a part of that, with that defense they’re building, I would love to be a part of that… with all the rumors and speculation, they really wanted to see what my knee was about. I passed it. I went through everything. They checked my knee for swelling and there was nothing. They put me through the gantlet and I did it.”
Teams are weighing the risk/reward of drafting a player like Jack with so much potential, but so many unknowns. For teams drafting in the top 10, the pressure is even greater to make the correct decision.
Even if Jack’s knee doesn’t deteriorate within a few years, what if he suffers another injury to the same knee? Would a similar injury effectively end his career? Those are the questions teams have been asking internally for weeks.
For Jack’s part, he doesn’t appear overly concerned. He acknowledged to reporters this week, “[the degenerative problems are] there, but it’s nothing extreme. Down the line, possibly I could have microfracture surgery – potentially. Who knows what will happen? Nobody knows how long anybody is going to play in this league. To play three years in this league would be above average.”
As for Oakland, Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle believes the Raiders would pounce on Jack if he falls to the 14th pick. He would certainly fill a huge need in Ken Norton Jr.’s defense.
The question is… for how long?
twitter: raidersbeat
You pick up a “gauntlet”; you pass through a “gantlet.” Still hope they get Jack.
No brained he falls to 14 we got to pick him!!
Agree 100
That’s a fact jack
How about **** you motherfucker. Have I said that yet?