The Raiders finished last season on a positive note, beating quality
teams like their cross bay rivals the 49ers. They saw the emergence of their 1st
franchise QB since Rich Gannon and they found themselves a beast of a back in
Letavious Murray. On the defensive side ILB Mack turned out to be worth the 4th
pick in the draft. The veterans on the squad made sure that this team was
competitive every game. But they were still lacking one piece…a #1 wide receiver.
They found that in this years draft…
R1 P4 WR Amari Cooper
(6’1” 211lbs Alabama Crimson Tide) – Cooper was the center point of the
Crimson Tide offense that was lead by former Raiders HC Lane Kiffin. Cooper was
a strong and well rounded wide receiver and was easily considered one of the
best wideouts in the draft. The Raiders picked him because it made sense they
needed a young wideout to pair with their franchise QB Carr and they found it
in Cooper…
R2 P3 (35) DT Mario
Edwards Jr (6’3” 279lbs Florida State Seminoles) – Even though most of
Raider Nation wanted the Raiders to go defensive with the 1st round
pick they went with offense. But getting Edwards early in the 2nd
round the Raiders got themselves a steal of a talent that can come in and help
out immediately. I don’t think he will be getting defensive ROY, but he will be
top 5 at season’s end. Long term he should help the Raiders become one of the
NFL’s top defensive squads…
R3 P4 (68) TE Clive
Walford (6’4” 251lbs Miami Hurricanes) – When you start getting into the 3rd
or later round you are looking for potential starters down the road. The
Raiders hit the mark and found themselves one in this draft. I watched this kid
play a couple of games over at Miami and I can say that this kid is a beast,
and he will easily become a favorite target of current Raiders QB Derek Carr…
With the addition of these three players on the Raiders offense and
defense should see some great strides in the upcoming season. Now lets temper
those expectations and say that the Raiders are a Wild Card team at best and
they are a few years away from truly competing for a Super Bowl, but compared
to where they were just 3 years ago they will have made grand strides toward
that goal…
If you want to listen
to the Double K’s Classroom show on the 4ACES network…
Every other Friday
nights at 8pm PST/ 11pm EST
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