The Raiders wanted Clelin Ferrell, but their plan was to get the Clemson defensive end and add a draft pick or two.
According to Peter King in his Football Morning in America column, the Raiders were willing to drop no lower than pick 13 and Ferrell was the player they wanted no matter what. They believed Ferrell wasn’t as high on other draft boards, but were willing to take him early to get who they coveted as a player and a leader in the locker room.
“The phone never rang at four,” King said of the Raiders. “Mayock and Gruden wished it had, but they never got a call. So they stayed there and picked a solid guy who won’t be the edge-rusher Josh Allen or Brian Burns will be; Gruden and defensive coordinator Paul Guenther will take his leadership and practice habits and edge-setting and hope he can be an eight to 12-sack guy. No guarantee though. Ferrell at 13, with an extra first-rounder from 2020, would have been the dream; Ferrell at four, with no extra compensation, was acceptable.”
For weeks, you’ve been reading around here that the worst-case scenario for the Raiders was Murray-Bosa-Williams going off the board before pick four and that’s exactly what happened on Thursday. General manager Mike Mayock indicated that the Raiders had Ferrell right there with Nick Bosa on their draft board, but considering they were apparently trying to trade up, it seems logical that Ferrell was rated a bit below Bosa and Williams on the Raiders draft board.
Whatever the case, Ferrell was the player the Raiders weren’t willing to leave the first round without – even if that meant taking him well ahead of where they probably could have gotten him later in the draft. The Ferrell pick is also a small indicator of what the Raiders thought of Ed Oliver and Josh Allen. Obviously, there were a few concerns there.
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I hated the pick, but I’ve come around to accept it. The interesting thing is, however, if you compare him against Bradley Chubb’s numbers and awards, they’re almost identical. Chubb has been outstanding for DEN, so hopefully Clellin can come close to those numbers. You never know…….would have been much happier with Oliver or Allen, though….
I agree, I about had a stroke when Allen was there. I would sure like to know what the concerns were. None of the other professional pickers around the league mentioned concerns. Oh well. Im cool with Jacobs but I think he would have still been there in early 2nd. They could have had the best CB available in bottom of 1st. They traded the pick that became Cody Ford to take Keleche spot. They could have had Bama T.E. they also passed on Mack Wilson who was available at LB. I think they fell in love with quantity or quality. The problem when you keep trading down is the dilution of talent you create. And BTW what the hell is wrong with Joseph that they drafted his replacement?