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The Raiders’ selection of Alex Leatherwood with the 17th overall pick came as a surprise to some, but based on GM Mike Mayock’s comments after the draft, we know the Raiders liked him enough that the Raiders weren’t willing to risk missing on him.
Mayock said the Raiders were offered a trade for the 17th pick, but didn’t want to risk dropping down too far and missing the Alabama left tackle.
For weeks we heard about a handful of other prospects the Raiders were hoping would fall in the draft. One of those was Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons, who was reportedly ahead of Leatherwood on the Raiders’ draft board.
“I know [the Raiders] had Micah Parsons higher than [Leatherwood],” Sports Illustrated‘s Hondo Carpenter said on the Clay and Pritch radio show. “But I knew this, I knew that he was their third-rated offensive tackle, I knew that they really like him. I knew because of some college sources all of the work they were doing getting information on Leatherwood.”
If you’re doing the math, there were two offensive tackles drafted before pick 17 and that means Oregon OT Penei Sewell and Northwestern OT Rashawn Slater were both ahead of Leatherwood on the Raiders’ draft board. Virginia Tech OT Christian Darrisaw and Oklahoma State OT Teven Jenkins must have been well below Leatherwood on the Raiders’ big board because both were available when the Raiders were on the clock. And since the Raiders turned down an opportunity to trade back, they obviously weren’t willing to get stuck with a tackle other than Leatherwood.
Time will tell if the Raiders made the right pick, but their selection of Leatherwood has unquestionably been the most scrutinized pick of the first round. Then again, the majority of draft “experts” thought Kolton Miller would be a first-round bust, too.
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Same experts who thought JaMarcus Russell would be amazing and didn’t know who Khalil Mack even was.
Don’t need to be an expert to know this was a joke of a pick and a huge reach.
Anybody who thinks Leatherwood is anything or will be anything better than an average starter at any position on the line is delusional. Mayock and Gruden are killing this team.
Honestly point out past mistakes from analyst is idiotic as well. The current Raiders FO has already proven multiple times both in the draft and FA they do not know how to evaluate talent. Overpay and generally make things worse by constantly trying to fix their own screw ups.