Needless to say, the Raiders haven’t had the best luck when it comes to the NFL draft. On Tuesday, they released their No. 1 pick from a year ago in Alex Leatherwood and will pay him several million dollars this year not to be on the team.
And with the Raiders declining the fifth-year options of all three of their first-round picks from the 2019 draft, there is a good chance that none of their six first-round picks from 2019-2021 will be on the roster by Week 1 of the 2023 season.
It’s also worth noting that the Raiders traded away former second-round pick Trayvon Mullen on Tuesday for just a conditional seventh-round pick. While Mullen has had his moments with the Raiders, it was another rough selection by Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden.
However, that was with the previous leadership and it’s clear that Dave Ziegler and Josh McDaniels are starting fresh in Las Vegas. The good news is that all six of their draft picks from this year made the initial 53-man roster. That list includes the following players:
OL Dylan Parham
RB Zamir White
DT Neil Farrell
DT Matthew Butler
OL Thayer Munford
RB Brittain Brown
It’s important to remember that this is still just the initial 53-man roster and a lot of things could still change before Week 1. However, their top five draft picks should all play a big role for the team this season.
While this certainly isn’t the most exciting draft class ever for the Raiders, it does have the chance to be an important one with several quality depth players. And after several years of bad draft classes, that’s all fans can hope for at this point.