I’m old enough to remember when Reggie McKenzie came on as General Manager and the hashtag #InReggieWeTrust began being tossed around. What never made much sense was what exactly he did to earn that trust.
It seemed to me that mantra was more faith-based than anything. As in that thing, you simply believe even though you’ve never actually seen it. I mean, outside of one good draft (2014), there were a lot of stumbles. Most notably, his day two picks, which seemed to include some pretty epic failures.
While I have yet to see any such hashtag for Mike Mayock, he has certainly earned it in his short time as Raiders GM. Much of that comes from his picks outside of the first round.
The Raiders have had just one draft under Mayock, but so far, he’s batting a thousand. Outside the first round, he got starters Trayvon Mullen, Maxx Crosby, Foster Moreau, and Hunter Renfrow. The latter three came in the fourth round and after.
While he had three picks in the fourth round last year, this year he has three picks in the third round, making for some excitement as to what he can do with them. Even without a pick in round two.
“Three picks in the third is just like stealing,” said Mayock over a conference call Tuesday. “If we’re doing our jobs the right way, hopefully that’s three more starters. Could we move up to get one, could we move back to get one, between 20 and 60? Sure. Again, we’re running through every possible scenario that we could be looking at. . . So, it’s all going to depend on what happens while we’re on the clock during the draft.”
We can all try and predict what Mayock will do with their five picks between rounds three and five, but with four successful picks outside the first round already, he earned the benefit of the doubt should the Raiders make a selection we question.
Four solid picks in rounds 2-5 in one draft are as many McKenzie can claim in his six drafts in control of the Raiders picks. Basically, the list consists of Derek Carr (D2-14), Gabe Jackson (D3-14), Justin Ellis (D4-14), and Jon Feliciano (D4-15). Making Feliciano the only solid pick outside the 2014 draft and he was never a starter for the Raiders.
Ultimately, these failed drafts caught up to the Raiders. You can’t build a winning foundation on one good draft.
So far, Mayock has had just one great draft. But he’s one for one. His first draft was an absolute robbery. Now we just sit back and watch the cat burglar go to work again.
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