The Las Vegas Raiders were in a great position in the 2020 NFL Draft. With two top-20 selections, the draft lined up well for them to select a stud wide receiver and potentially a game-changing defender. However, the early returns on those picks haven’t been great and the Raiders might be wishing they could hit the reset button on that class.
With hindsight being 2020, who should the Raiders have selected at picks No. 12 and No. 19? You can make a case they should have drafted CeeDee Lamb or Justin Jefferson at No. 12, but maybe the smart play was to address defense at that spot.
In a recent article by ESPN’s 32 beat writers, they redrafted the first two rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft. Not surprisingly, the Raiders did not select Henry Ruggs III at No. 12 or Damon Arnette at No. 19. Instead, Paul Gutierrez gave the Raiders linebacker Kenneth Murray at No. 12 and Ruggs later in the first round.
Here is a snippet of Gutierrez’s thoughts on Murray and why he would have made more sense than Ruggs in the top half of the first round:
“In the real world, the Raiders went unconventional here, making the fastest guy in the draft the first receiver taken in a historically deep draft for receivers. Yeah, he’s still available, but was not as productive as hoped for as a rookie. Las Vegas needed a thumper at middle linebacker, an alpha in the middle of the defense that was, well, horrid at times. Murray, who led the Chargers with 107 tackles, the second-most among NFL rookies in 2020, more than fits that bill.”
While the idea of addressing the defense early in the draft makes sense, the player does not. Murray graded out as a sub-par linebacker this season and struggled in coverage despite the high tackle totals. He doesn’t project as a high-level coverage linebacker and that is what the defense is missing.
If the Raiders were going to go defense at No. 19, cornerback Trevon Diggs or safety Antoine Winfield Jr. would have made more sense in hindsight. Both players actually fell to the middle of the second round, but would have been plug-and-play starters on a defense that could have used them.
There is still a lot of time for the actual picks from the 2020 rookie class for the Raiders, so don’t write them off quite yet. However, the 2021 season is a big one for players like Ruggs and Arnette, who struggled to stay healthy and show any sort of consistency during their rookie seasons.
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