Raiders Draft: Thoughts By Black Hole Banter On 2022 Class

The Las Vegas Raiders have just finished conducting their first draft with Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler at the helm, and while we won’t know how this class turns out for a few years, that doesn’t mean we can’t take anything away from the weekend. Admittedly, it’s hard to get a feel for the draft style of a new general manager after just one year and even harder when they have no first or second-round picks. But we saw enough of Ziegler in his first draft to have learned a few things about his style.

Dave Ziegler isn’t afraid to be aggressive in the trade market

Long before the draft even started, the Raiders were making moves with draft picks, sending their first and second rounders to Green Bay for Davante Adams. This may be a one-time thing, the result of circumstances. After all, how often will one of the best wide receivers in the game turn down more money to force a trade to your team because he played college ball with your quarterback?

But while Ziegler may not be going full Les Snead, he showed he isn’t going to clutch pearls when it comes to using draft picks to make major upgrades via trade. On Day 3 of the draft, Ziegler doubled down on his willingness to use draft capital to target players he values when he traded up in the fourth round to grab running back Zamir White and then traded back into the fourth round for defensive tackle Neil Farrell. He also showed a willingness to be patient when he traded back in the third round before taking offensive lineman Dylan Parham. The Raiders were not going to be left out of the action during a draft weekend filled with trades.

McDaniels appears ready to continue his zig

It would appear that the Raiders, under McDaniels, plan to zig while the NFL zags by investing heavily in the run game. The Patriots did this a year ago, running the ball the eighth most of any team in the NFL. With many defenses investing heavily in sub package personnel and light coverage linebackers, McDaniels established a top ten run game with a group of no-name running backs last season.

Before the offseason started, the Raiders were already heavily invested in the running back position, with both Josh Jacobs and Kenyan Drake on the roster. Then, during free agency, the Raiders added two more running backs in Brandon Bolden and Ameer Abdullah. And to cap the offseason, they drafted not one, but two running backs over the weekend in Zamir White and Brittain Brown. And as was noted above, they traded up in order to make sure they could get White.

Raiders: Best player available is a subjective idea

Seeing how the draft plays out versus how mock drafts predicted it would play out should be enough to tell you that the value of a player in the draft is completely subjective. And McDaniels discussed how subjective draft evaluations are after the draft.