Over the last decade, one of the most accurate mock drafters has been Dane Brugler of The Athletic. He’s been consistently right about where players will land in certain rounds and usually does a pretty good job of matching them up with the right team.
On Thursday, he put out a seven-round mock draft with a bunch of surprises. But for the Raiders, it was a pretty straightforward draft. Here are all the draft picks by the Raiders in Brugler’s mock:
3 (86) – Coby Bryant, CB, Cincinnati
4 (126) – Danny Gray, WR, SMU
5 (164) – Kellen Diesch, OT, Arizona State
5 (165) – Kalia Davis, DT, UCF
7 (227) – EJ Perry, QB, Brown
It’s not surprising that he had the Raiders selecting a cornerback with their top pick as the team has done a bunch of research on that position. But Bryant isn’t someone that has been mentioned very often.
Bryant started 40 games at Cincinnati during his career and he totaled 45 pass deflections and 10 interceptions. He was named a first-team All-American in 2021 and was named the Jim Thorpe Award winner as the best defensive back in the country.
If Bryant is available at No. 86, that would be a home-run selection by the Raiders. His size, ball production and experience would allow him to be a plug-and-play starter for the Raiders.
Overall, this is a very solid draft for the Raiders in which they grabbed three players (Bryant, Gray, Diesch) that could all compete for playing time as rookies.
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