Tag: 2022 Raiders draft

Raiders rookies report to training camp

It’s training camp report day for Raiders rookies

Training camp has arrived for some Raiders players. As is always the case, the rookies arrive first, along with the first-year players and quarterbacks. The Raiders tweeted out images of some of their rookies showing up at the facility this morning.

Rookies would include their six draft picks and all their undrafted free agents.

As for the rest of the team, they report on Wednesday with the first practice taking place on Thursday, July 21.

The Raiders are among the first teams to take the field for training camp because they will play in the first preseason game; the Hall of Fame game which takes place in Canton Ohio.

That means these players who report today will get a bit of a head start on their NFL careers. This after already being among the first teams to start their offseason programs due to having a new head coach in Josh McDaniels.

Raiders rookie draft class gets their numbers

Raiders have handed out numbers to their rookie draft class

We are now a week removed from the start of the draft and just over a week until the Raiders rookie minicamp on May 13. In advance of those rookies taking the field in Silver & Black for the first time, the team handed out their jersey numbers.

Here’s who is wearing what from the Raiders’ draft class:

C/G Dylan Parham — 66
RB Zamir White — 35
DI Matthew Butler — 73
DI Neil Farrell — 93
T Thayer Munford — 77
RB Brittain Brown — 38

These numbers are subject to change before the start of the regular season and I would put money on many of them changing. But this is how their Raiders career will start.

Raiders third-round OL Dylan Parham named among top 10 best fits in 2022 NFL draft

Dylan Parham named among best team fits in this year’s draft

This year, the Raiders had to be strategic in their approach to the draft being that they didn’t have a pick until 86 overall in the third round. Then when their pick came up, they traded back four spots to 90, picking up a round five pick in the deal. And it appears they still got the right guy with their first pick.

The Raiders selected Memphis guard Dylan Parham, who is projected as a center at the NFL level.

Parham topped my list of Raiders draft targets at the center position and thus the selection made immediate sense to me. Then the Athletic’s NFL analyst Ted Nguyen put out his list of the top ten best fits in the NFL draft and Parham made that list, all I could do was nod along in approval.

“Watching the film, Parham looks like a high-level processor, his eyes are always in the right place, he smoothly picks up blitzes and stunts and his feel for coming off double teams and getting to the second level is impeccable. McDaniels’ run scheme was among the most diverse in the league with the Patriots, so he needs offensive linemen who can handle that type of volume mentally.”

Nguyen posts several clips which back up his points about Parham’s intelligence and athleticism which translate to the center position, which is in play for Parham on a team whose offensive line was far from set last season.

Although the previous Raiders regime gave an extension to center Andre James last season, the new one isn’t going to automatically hand him a spot. I believe Parham has a legit chance to win the job and could add more physicality inside to an offensive line that desperately needs it.

Following the selection of Parham, GM Dave Ziegler said Parham would be ‘cross-trained’ at center and guard and will be given the opportunity to win the starting center job.

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Raiders 2022 draft grades

Grading Raiders 2022 draft class

No picks for the Raiders in the first and second round of this year’s draft. They spent those by sending them to Green Bay for Davante Adams. So, their draft started in the third round.

No one expects the Raiders to ‘win’ the draft without any high picks. I mean, whatever it means to ‘win’ a draft. All they can do is try to maneuver the draft, get good value, and fill some needs.

The ultimate hope is to get a few starters out of it. Whether that be immediately or down the road. But the grades for that will come, well, down the road.

How they worked the draft we grade now. So, let’s get to it.

Raiders draft class named top 5 best overall value

Only 3 teams got more value in their drafts this year than the Raiders

During the draft, players are either deemed reaches or steals or simply the right pick at the right time. Ideally, if a team is truly drafting the players they consider to be the best available at any position, they should find themselves getting players who most analysts thought would have come off the board by then.

One popular way to find a reasonable idea of where a player ranks among the rest of the draft class is to collect a large sample size of ‘big boards’ or mock drafts and put together a consensus.

In those terms, the Raiders came out very favorable in their class according to Warren Sharp. With regard to comparing where the Raiders took a player versus where their average position in mock drafts, they had the fourth-best value class.

The players who helped raise the Raiders’ draft class value the most were fifth-round pick DT Matthew Butler and seventh-round pick OT Thayer Munford.

Butler’s consensus draft position was 129 (round 4) and the Raiders got him at 175 (round five), a difference of 46 spots. Munford was selected at pick 238 (round seven) while the consensus had him being selected at 158 (round five); a difference of 80 spots.

Does this mean these guys were ‘steals’? Hard to say at this point. It would seem to raise the possibility that the Raiders raised the chances they may have gotten at least a couple of players who are better than their draft position would suggest.

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Thayer Munford could instantly compete for Raiders right tackle job

Don’t sleep on Thayer Munford. The 7th round rookie could compete immediately for Raiders right tackle job

Over and over again Raiders GM Dave Ziegler and head coach Josh McDaniels have preached versatility among their offensive linemen. That point was driven home with their selection of Dylan Parham in the third round. But the tone was a bit different when they nabbed Thayer Munford in the seventh round.

“The offensive tackle position in itself is a position that, the supply and demand at that position is tough,” Ziegler said when describing Munford. “You look at it in free agency. It’s a tough position to play and there’s not a lot of human beings that size, length, athletic skill set to play tackle and to have a tackle like Thayer that was there that played in the BigTen for Ohio State and played against a lot of talent and did a solid job in those matchups. To have a tackle with that resume was an attractive thing. Obviously he’ll have to come in and show what he can do at the professional level. His college career is over. Again to see a tackle that we both evaluated and thought was obviously a good player was good to see.”

Not once in that statement did Ziegler refer to Munford as anything but a tackle.

Why does that matter? Well, the 6-5, 328-pounder played guard all of last season for the Buckeyes. And all the draft projections I saw of him, he was listed as a guard. Usually when that happens it’s either because he played better at guard or doesn’t have physical traits that translate to the NFL. That’s not the case with Munford.

“My strengths are definitely having longer arms and I’m very quick on my feet,” Munford said following his selection. Those are not typically seen as guard strengths, those are tackle strengths.

As it happens, the Raiders spent a first round pick in last year’s draft on Alex Leatherwood – another former college tackle who projected as a guard in the draft process. But in Leatherwood’s case, there was good reason. It was because his strength was in run blocking, not pass blocking. And after four games, that became obvious to the Raiders too, so they moved him to guard.

Since then the team has not brought in anyone to fill the need at right tackle. But is it crazy to think they may have just found their guy in the seventh round?

Even while Munford was seen as a guard, he was viewed as a mid-round pick in this draft. So, his availability in the seventh round is not necessarily indicative of his talent. It could just be he slipped through because of the fact that he was a fifth-year senior who made the rare decision to move inside after several years at tackle. The reason why he did that is important, however.

 “I played three years at left tackle and I always saw myself as a versatile type player and I’m going to play guard too,” Munford added. “I played guard this year and I think I did pretty well at guard. This year was basically on me. I brought it up to the coaches. The coaches never forced me to play guard. I said, yeah, I’m a team player, I pledge to do this. Let’s do what’s best for the team.”

Munford was a first-team All BigTen left tackle. Then last season he was a First Team All BigTen left guard. And by all accounts, he was better as a tackle than he was as a guard. Could it be most teams just overlooked him because of his move inside?

Whatever the reason for his fall, all signs point to Munford having a viable shot at competing for at least the swing tackle job and potentially in the mix for the wide open right tackle job.

Players to watch for Raiders on Day 3 of the draft

Players to watch for Raiders on Day 3 of the draft

The fourth round of the 2022 draft is about to start. The Raiders first pick of day three is at 126, which is 20 picks into the day. They have three others after that in the fifth round at 164, 165, and 169. Then their final pick is at 227 in the seventh round.

They went with a perfect fit with their third round pick Dylan Parham who can play center or guard. He was third on my board for Raiders fits at the time. There are still a lot of great prospects to be had who would be fits for the Raiders who no one would have questioned if they’d gone on day two.

Here is the list of players you should be watching for the Raiders on Day three.

Daniel Faalele, T, Minnesota
Perrion Winfrey, DI, Oklahoma
Coby Bryant, CB, Cincinnati
Calvin Austin III, WR, Memphis
JoJo Domann, LB, Nebraska
Matthew Butler, DI, Tennessee
Damarri Mathis, CB, Pittsburgh
Brandon Smith, LB, Penn St
Max Mitchell, T, Louisiana
Bo Melton, WR, Rutgers
Josh Jobe, CB, Alabama
Haskell Garrett, DI, Ohio State

Raiders head into day 3 with 5 draft picks left and GM Dave Ziegler is pretty excited about it

‘It’s going to be exciting to get going’ said Raiders GM Dave Ziegler. Here are their five day three picks.

Day two of the 2022 NFL Draft is in the in the books. And 105 players have their new teams. Just one of those players is now a member of the Las Vegas Raider.

That player is offensive lineman Dylan Parham who was taken at 90 overall.

Things will pick up in a big way on day three with the team set to make five picks. those picks are as follows:

Round 4, pick 126
Round 5, pick 164
Round 5, pick 165
Round 5, pick 169
Round 7, pick 227

Originally the Raiders picked at 86 overall, but they traded down to 90 with the Titans and picked up pick 169 in the 5th round in the deal. Giving them four picks the next two rounds, including three in a span of five picks in the fifth round.

After waiting nearly three entire rounds before making their first pick of this draft, things will get real busy real soon. And new GM Dave Ziegler is pretty stoked about that.

“It’s going to be exciting to get going,” said Ziegler of the Raiders starting to have picks in this draft. “You’re waiting, you’re waiting, you’re waiting and it’s exciting. That’s part of the juice, part of the excitement of seeing who’s going to be there and maneuver around the board and see what opportunities you have. It will be good to get going on the West Coast time and get rolling. It’ll be fun.”

Waiting out the first two rounds due to trading for Davante Adams was a necessary evil. But that wait is behind them now. They got some picks to make now.

Raiders 3rd round pick Dylan Parham to be ‘cross-trained’ at center, guard

Dylan Parham will be given every opportunity to seize a starting job at either center or guard for Raiders

All through the draft process, the Raiders have talked about valuing versatility, particularly along the offensive line. So, when they made Dylan Parham their first pick at 90 overall, it made a whole lot of sense.

Parham has extensive experience, starting every game over the past four seasons for Memphis at both guard spots as well as right tackle. And since he started the draft process, the book on him is that he translates to the center position in the pros. 

He began his college career starting two seasons at left guard. Then after a season at right tackle, he earned First Team All AAC at right guard. The Raiders could potentially use him at either guard or center and his ability to do both made him all the more intriguing.

“Definitely a part of the allure,” said GM Dave Ziegler of Parham’s versatility. “The value of a guy that can come in and play two spots. Just adds depth to your team. That’s an important part of the evaluation. Allows you the opportunity to add more players to the game.”

Parham, of course, said he would play wherever the Raiders ask him to play. The center position comes with a longer list of demands than guard, so there are reasons why NFL talent evaluators see him translating to center.

“I feel like center-wise, my intelligence,” said Parham. “I’ve had 51 starts throughout my time at Memphis so I’ve seen a lot of football. I’ve learned a lot of different things, seeing defenses and things like that, so I feel like it’s a combination of a lot of things.”

There is a large group of interior lineman on this Raiders team, but none of them have a lock on a spot. Parham will be thrown into that mix with the opportunity to earn a starting job.

“We’re going to let him come in and see what he can do,” said Ziegler. “And the more he can do, we’re going to allow him to do. We’re not going to set out with ‘you’re going to start here or start there. We’ll just give him an opportunity and see where it goes.”

“All our offensive linemen, they all get cross-trained across the board. . . The interior guys all work at guard and center. He’ll be no different than all the other guys on our team. We’ll give all the guys opportunities to work at both spots.”

Players to watch who could be on the board for Raiders at 86

Keep on eye on these players as fits for Raiders at 86

Day two is set to begin. Day one the Raiders didn’t have a pick and head coach Josh McDaniels said the most action was teams calling to see if they had the right number for the Raiders. Day two figures to be considerably more lively than that.

The first pick the Raiders have today is at 86 in the third round, so it could be a while before anything happens and a lot of players will come off the board in the meantime — 54 to be exact.

Yeah, you never really know where the different teams value guys, so there will certainly be some surprises. But these are the players I am watching who would be good fits and who could be on the board for the Raiders at 86.

Daniel Faalele, T, Minnesota
Perrion Winfrey, DI, Oklahoma
Cam Taylor-Britt, CB, Nebraska
Abraham Lucas, T, Washington St
Wan’Dale Robinson, WR, Kentucky
Dylan Parham, C, Memphis
Phidarian Mathis, DL, Alabama
Brian Asamoah II, LB, Oklahoma
Coby Bryant, CB, Cincinnati
Luke Fortner, C, Kentucky
Calvin Austin III, WR, Memphis

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