We are less than ten days away from the Raiders making a pick at No. 17. As to who they will select, it’s anyone’s guess. The belief from many is that they will use their top pick on an offensive tackle, but don’t rule out defense, either.
One position that hasn’t gained a ton of steam through the draft process is linebacker. Early on, Notre Dame’s Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was nearly a consensus pick, but we haven’t seen him connected with the Raiders in a while. But is it possible they could pick a different linebacker?
In a recent mock draft by NFL Network’s Peter Schrager, he has the Raiders picking Micah Parsons, the talented linebacker from Penn State. Here is Schrager’s explanation behind the pick:
“From what I’m told, the feeling around the league is the Raiders will focus on pass rush or offensive tackle with their first-round pick. Parsons would be a perfect fit for a team that already added Yannick Ngakoue this offseason.”
Picking a linebacker wouldn’t be surprising, but Schrager’s reasoning is a bit confusing. He mentions that Parsons would be a good fit with Ngakoue, who plays an entirely different position.
In defense of Schrager, Parsons is one of the best blitzing linebackers in the class. Maybe, the belief is that the Raiders would use Parsons on the edge to bring more speed and juice to their pass rush.
While the Raiders have bigger needs than at linebacker, Parsons might just be the best player available and too good to pass up at No. 17.
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