2012 Raiders Draft Discussion

[RaiderNation]

Looks like we signed OLB Phillip Wheeler as well, good day for McKenzie and the Raiders.

[RaiderNation]

Whats everyone's opinions on our biggest needs now that it's April?

[nobodyinparticular]

Oline depth. OG and RT for sure.

Speed rusher on the outside. If he can play SLB too that would be a bonus.

Big mofo in the middle of the dline.

TE probably. But I guess Ausberry is really building a ton of chemistry with Palmer in So Cal right now.

Power RB?

Extra safety.

Maybe another CB. Spencer and Bartell are penciled in as starters right now, but they are the types of FAs who could go from starters in OTAs to cut in preseason. Big unknowns there. Just like our 2 draft picks from last year.

Edit: Oh yeah, and a reliable backup QB. We should have learned our lesson last year.

[RaidersFan1995]

How do you guys feel about McClain's development?

[Stash]

As far as what I think the team needs, I want a big ole DT to help against the run. That's something we've needed forever. Other than that, we could use depth at RB, OL, LB, DB, and a backup QB.

[RaiderNation]

Here are some defensive prospects to watch at positions of needs for us now that we have Tollefson on the team!

DT/NT Josh Chapman (3rd)- Great fit into our DT rotation to replace Henderson.
DE/OLB Jake Bequette(3rd)- Experience SEC pass rusher that that can some DE and SLB in the NFL.
FS Brandon Taylor (3rd)- Rising FS prospect that is having very solid workouts.
DE/OLB Bruce Irvin (3rd-4th)- Very athletic pass rusher that needs the right coaching to succeed.
FS Trenton Thomas(3rd-4th)- Productive FS that could be added depending on what Huff does this year.
OLB Josh Kaddu(4th)- Would be a nice fit at SLB for us with his ability to rush the passer.
FS Aaron Henry (4th-5th)- Another productive FS prospect that could be added in the the mid rounds.
OLB Demario Davis (4th-5th)- Plan D on the OLB search, Davis is a small school sleeper that can produce.
DT/NT Hebron Fangupo(4th-5th)- Strong inside DT that will do well in a rotation like ours.
OLB Vontaze Burfict (4th-6th)- Former 1st round caliber prospect that might a steal in the late rounds if he keeps his head on straight.
DT/NT Hakeem Nicks(5th)- Nicks impressed the last few monthes and could be a nice fit with 1 of the 5th round picks.

[Abaddon]

Not looking for any offensive linemen? I expect we'll draft one, for sure. Wouldn't bother me if we grabbed two.

TE is a gaping hole right now, too. Bad draft for TEs, but Ladarius Green at #95 wouldn't be a bad dice roll.

[RaiderNation]

Current projected roster:

QB Carson Palmer
Terrelle Pryor
Rhett Bomar
Need?

RB Darren McFadden
Mike Goodson
Taiwan Jones

FB Marcel Reece
Manase Tonga

WR Darrius Heyward-Bey
Denarius Moore
Jacoby Ford
Luis Murphy
Eddie McGee

TE Brandon Meyers
Davis Ausberry
Richard Gordon
Need?

LT Jared Veldheer


LG Cooper Carlisle
Alex Parsons
Need

C Stefen Wisniewski
Need

RG Mike Breisel
Zach Hurd

RT Khalif Barnes
Joe Barksdale

DE Matt Shaughnessy
Dave Tollefson

NT Tommy Kelly
Need

UT Richard Seymour
Desmond Bryant

DE Lamarr Houston
Need

SLB Phillip Wheeler
Need

MLB Rolando McClain
Travis Goethel

WLB Aaron Curry

CB Shawntae Spencer
Ron Bartell
DeMarcus Van Dyke
Chimdi Chekwa

SS Tyvon Branch
Mike Mitchell

FS Michael Huff
Brandon Underwood
Pat Lee

[RaiderNation]

Originally Posted by Abaddon

Not looking for any offensive linemen? I expect we'll draft one, for sure. Wouldn't bother me if we grabbed two.

TE is a gaping hole right now, too. Bad draft for TEs, but Ladarius Green at #95 wouldn't be a bad dice roll.

Forgot to put defensive prospects, and I agree a OT/OG should be drafted in the 4th/5th round where we have 3 picks combine. A pass rusher and NT need to be drafted in the 3rd and 4th, OL and DB/TE/OLB in the 5th and 6th. We have the chance to fill a lot of depth needs with our picks in the mid rounds.

Green would be a very solid pick in the 3rd if Irvin/Chapman are off the board. He would be great with our young WR's and Palmer off play action plays in the new WCO. Michael Egnew or Deangelo Peterson could be good picks as well if the values right in the 4th/5th round.

[RaiderNation]

I'd love for the draft to end up with some type of pairing of these prospects.

3rd Josh Chapman/Bruce Irvin/Ladarius Green/Brandon Taylor
4th Mitchell Schwartz/Josh Kaddu/Michael Egnew/Trenton Thomas
5th Hebron Fangupo/Demario Davis/Deangelo Peterson/Aaron Henry/Levy Adcock
6th Akiem Hicks/Adrian Hamilton/Brian Linthicum/Kelcie McCray/Bradley Sowell

[Dr griz]

Corderro Law DE/lb 6/7 round. he can play, look him up

[Dr griz]

also Terrence Gannoway 5th/.6th round

[RaiderNation]

Dennis Allen has said he feels fine about DVD and Chekwa's future on the team, both potential starters down the line. We should probably look to add another secondary player in the draft, FS makes the most sense.

[Abaddon]

Long term starters at safety are under contract. CB is still very much up in the air.

We need another FS, no doubt. If Huff gets dinged, we're in trouble at this point. Neither Branch nor Mitchel has any business playing centerfield.

Still, we have two CBs on 1 year deals coming off of injury plagued/lost seasons, and two young guys who remain mostly unknown quantities. That's not gonna get it done.

Another FS would, however, allow Huff to spend more time covering the slot and blitzing. That would be nice.

[Abaddon]

Originally Posted by Dr griz

Corderro Law DE/lb 6/7 round. he can play, look him up

Not much of a burst. I like him as an undrafted FA pickup and practice squad guy, though.

Originally Posted by Dr griz

also Terrence Gannoway 5th/.6th round

Definitely intrigued by this guy. We sorely need another RB.

[Abaddon]

Originally Posted by RaiderNation

Current projected roster:

QB Carson Palmer
Terrelle Pryor
Rhett Bomar
Need? Definitely.

RB Darren McFadden
Mike Goodson
Taiwan Jones
Also a need.

FB Marcel Reece
Manase Tonga

WR Darrius Heyward-Bey
Denarius Moore
Jacoby Ford
Luis Murphy
Eddie McGee
Could use a hands/routes guy here. Someone to develop and replace Louis Murphy if he's allowed to walk next year.

TE Brandon Meyers
Davis Ausberry
Richard Gordon
Need? A high priority need. This is a TE friendly offense. We need a friendly TE to make it work.

LT Jared Veldheer


LG Cooper Carlisle
Alex Parsons
Need Definitely.

C Stefen Wisniewski
Need

RG Mike Breisel
Zach Hurd

RT Khalif Barnes
Joe Barksdale
Definite need.

DE Matt Shaughnessy
Dave Tollefson

NT Tommy Kelly
Need

UT Richard Seymour
Desmond Bryant

DE Lamarr Houston
Need Gotta have a stronger nickel D-line.

SLB Phillip Wheeler
Need

MLB Rolando McClain
Travis Goethel
Need.

WLB Aaron Curry

CB Shawntae Spencer
Ron Bartell
DeMarcus Van Dyke
Chimdi Chekwa
Big need.

SS Tyvon Branch
Mike Mitchell

FS Michael Huff
Brandon Underwood
Pat Lee
Need. Not sure Lee or Underwood will be playing any FS.

This roster is holier than a religious text.

[nobodyinparticular]

Originally Posted by Abaddon

This roster is holier than a religious text.

I absolutely agree with every spot you highlighted. Has Chekwa's transition to FS been nixed? I get the feeling, even if the Raiders moved him to FS, they would still need a high quality backup to man centerfield.

I feel like the Raiders are incredibly thin at every position, needing at least depth there. At a few positions--RT, LG, OLB, CB to name a few--ideally the depth would be provided by acquiring a starter and moving the currently projected starter to backup. To have Barnes, Barksdale and Cooper at backup with a better starter at LG and RT would be the ideal situation. Eric Winston would have been a nice pickup to that end.

I absolutely agree with your assessment of needing a hands guy at WR--something that has been largely overlooked. Hagan would have been nice to keep around--another one of Hue Jackson's mistakes when he was given the reins.

[RaiderNation]

We're going to have the chance to address at least a few needs during the draft, this year has very solid depth in the mid rounds. If we can find another pass rusher, NT, OL and RB/TE I'll be happy. 4 picks in rounds 3-5 is pretty solid.

Also Reggie McKenzie has said multiple times he says he can find a few solid UFA's as well to go with our draft picks, I'm excited to see what he can put together with the lack of recources this off season. So far I've been happy with what's happened with this off season overall...

[RaiderNation]

Here's a new guy I've really taken a liking to after watching some tape of him today, Miles Burris looks like a perfect fit at SLB for us. 6'1 5/8 246lbs 4.67 40 17.5 sacks and 39.5 TFL the last 2 seasons. 4th/5th round value but could end up being a huge steal.

[RaiderNation]

Also did this after running the fastest 3 cone drill time with a 6.68

[Abaddon]

Originally Posted by nobodyinparticular

I absolutely agree with every spot you highlighted. Has Chekwa's transition to FS been nixed? I get the feeling, even if the Raiders moved him to FS, they would still need a high quality backup to man centerfield.

I feel like the Raiders are incredibly thin at every position, needing at least depth there. At a few positions--RT, LG, OLB, CB to name a few--ideally the depth would be provided by acquiring a starter and moving the currently projected starter to backup. To have Barnes, Barksdale and Cooper at backup with a better starter at LG and RT would be the ideal situation. Eric Winston would have been a nice pickup to that end.

I absolutely agree with your assessment of needing a hands guy at WR--something that has been largely overlooked. Hagan would have been nice to keep around--another one of Hue Jackson's mistakes when he was given the reins.

I know a guy who knows a guy, and he says that Reggie's boy Underwood is going to be working out at FS as well as CB. I didn't expect that, but I'm all for trying it out. He might address our depth there...assuming the guy can stick. Sounds like they want to develop Chekwa as a corner. If that doesn't work out, I think he still has a chance to make it as a safety.

Dumping Hagan for TJ was ridiculous. Not that Hagan is some excellent player or anything. But he did bring a skill set to the WR corps that we really don't have now. I'm sure we'll get that smoothed out.

As for depth, Reggie says that's where he is. We're going BPA, position be damned. He said we only have 5 picks and we have to make every one of them count. It's easy to fixate on need. I know I'm routinely guilty of it. But when you're rebuilding a roster with limited resources, BPA really is the only way to go. He wants depth that can come in and compete for the starting job, and I'm on board with that idea.

[byron2112]

Some good info in this thread... you guys have a good handle on what needs to be done.

Of course we don't know exactly how Reggie's gonna display his preferences with his selections yet, but here's a draft I put together a couple days ago in a Lil' Al Davis contest.

Round 3 (95th overall): Ladarius Green, TE - La.-Lafayette
Round 4 (129th overall): Omar Bolden, CB - Arizona State
Round 5 (148th overall): Senio Kelemete, OG - Washington
Round 5 (168th overall): Alex Hoffman-Ellis, OLB - Washington State
Round 6 (189th overall): Tim 'Lil' Fugger, DE - Vanderbilt
__________________

[RaiderNation]

Looks like TE might not be a big need, I was talking to an insider on twitter and he said TE won't be a high priority. We also just signed former Cal State Fullerton basketball player Andre Hardy(6'5 245lbs 4.7 40). I think Reece might be used as a TE along with Ausberry and Gordon hopefully developing. We have seen Myers is a decent 2nd TE, and need Ausberry or Hardy to step up as a passing target.

Here's Hardy's workout, pretty impressive IMO.

[RaiderNation]

Talked with my brother today, funny thing is he told me played college football with OLB prospect Miles Burris and DT prospect Akeem Hicks. Both these guys are prospects I've have on our radar with a mid round pick, and hearing from brother of these 2 was interesting.

Burris is all the athlete he is hype up to be, my brother told me he was probably the fastest LB he had ever played with. Burris played MLB while in JR college my brother told me, which might allow us to use him in different roles if we end up going after him.

Hicks is a soft spoken physicial freak for a 6'4 318lbs DT, my brother told me. He is much different on the field though, using his great size to move blockers back at most times. He would be a nice fit to replace John Henderson in a limited role for us as a rookie.

[Abaddon]

I would be severely disappointed if more wasn't done to address the TE position. Ausberry and Gordon are athletes lucky to be in the NFL right now. They bring little to the table. Myers is only a "good second TE" to a team that doesn't use their TEs. He's a serviceable #3 for an offense like the one we're apparently putting in.

Hardy is an intriguing project, but nothing more at this point.

Overall, the position is baron. Hard to see it any other way until one of these 4 guys does something he's never done before: Look like an NFL football player.