Report: Raiders Focusing on Secondary With Their First-Round Pick

A report in The Athletic last week said all signs are pointing to the Raiders addressing their need at right tackle early in the draft.

This year’s drafted is filled to the gills with offensive tackles, so it looks like an ideal year to get a tackle at pick 17. Unfortunately, though, the Raiders have an equally-pressing need at free safety and it sounds like the thinking around the league is that Jon Gruden will take a defensive back in the first round.

“Pass-rusher, especially on the interior, could be a consideration [with the Raiders first pick], but it feels like secondary is the team’s focus based on conversations with NFL sources,” NFL draft analyst Matt Miller wrote last week’s The Draft Scout mock.

Ironically, Miller followed up the aforementioned information nugget by submitting a mock draft on Tuesday where he gave the Raiders a linebacker: Kentucky’s Jamin Davis.

So do with that what you will.

Sports Illustrated’s Hondo Carpenter appeared on Raider Nation Radio’s Clay and Pritch show this week and said that if the draft were held now, he believes the Raiders would be leaning toward taking a defensive player in the first round. But certainly a lot can change in the next three weeks.

The month of April will always be lying season in the NFL so most draft narratives going around this time of year deserve a good amount of skepticism. What doesn’t deserve skepticism, however, is the fact that the Raiders have two major holes on the roster at the moment: free safety and right tackle. It shouldn’t surprise anyone if they address both of those needs in the first two rounds of the draft.

The question is… which position will they draft first?

twitter: @raidersbeat

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5 thoughts on “Report: Raiders Focusing on Secondary With Their First-Round Pick

  1. Easy.
    If LB Parsons available, must take him.
    Otherwise it S Moehrig.
    2nd RD, if Parsons in 1st, must take S Holland.
    RT & CB in 3rd
    OG in 4th.

  2. Gruden is like the wind, it can shift at any given moment! Personally I sadly don’t think he knows how to draft! He has shown he reaches far to often, as he did with Ferrell and Ruggs! In both cases there were better options for those positions at the time. But I’ll continue to support the team and home it pans out in the long run

  3. I really believe there are 2 corners in the draft this year that are can’t miss types that will be pro-bowl quality right out the gate . They are Patrick surtain jr. and Jaycee Horn. I’ve watched every Alabama game last year.and I watched just about every game till the end. Even when they were 30 point blowouts because when you bet on or against Alabama the point spread is usually 30 plus points. And I also bet on and against several south Carolina games. Both of these dudes have extremely high ceilings and really high floors. Patrick surtain could become the Patrick mahomes of cornerbacks. I wouldn’t be mad if we(the RAIDERS) traded our 1st and 2nd round picks plus a 5th rounder to get surtain. We really need an elite player that would make our whole secondary a lot better . Drafting good players is cool but getting a game changer would be awesome.

  4. If we go offensive line with our 1st pick then I would take tevin Jenkins over vera-tucker from USC. A lot of people thinks he’s a better prospect because he can also play guard. It would be nice to have versatility but I would rather take the guy who’s been playing right tackle at an elite level already and has the ability to become the best right tackle in the league. I wouldn’t mind getting some depth at guard later in the draft but we need a stud right tackle now

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