Will Alex Leatherwood be able to shake his current “bust” status? That remains the biggest question from the 2021 draft class for the Raiders. Otherwise, this looks to be a pretty strong class.
The Raiders got two Day 1 starters after the first round in Trevon Moehrig and Nate Hobbs. They also were getting more snaps from Divine Deablo and Malcolm Koonce as the year went on. But what kind of grade should they get from the class as a whole after one year?
In a recent article by Gennaro Filice and Nick Shook of NFL.com, they graded every draft class from 1 to 32 from 2021. Not surprisingly, the Raiders finished high, coming in at No. 11. Here is a snippet of what the site had to say about their class:
“As for the rest of the class, a good portion stepped up at different times. Moehrig was an effective player for nearly the entire season, finishing with a top-25 PFF grade among all safeties (ahead of the likes of Jeremy Chinn, Juan Thornhill and Kyle Dugger) while earning PFWA All-Rookie honors.
Deablo progressed from a special teams player to a starting linebacker right around the time the Raiders began their frantic playoff push and should be penciled in as a starter in 2022.”
The site gave the Raiders a B+ for the class with their only real critique coming with the Leatherwood selection. If Leatherwood can make a big leap in Year 2 and solidify the right guard spot, there is a chance that this could be one of the better draft classes in recent memory for the Raiders.
But even if Leatherwood doesn’t improve, finding Moehrig, Hobbs and Deablo all in the same class will make it a successful one for the Raiders.