The Oakland Raiders had three first round picks in the NFL Draft, and a chance to revitalize the franchise. Only time will tell if they did that, as we see plenty of guys pan out that were not the favorites of many experts, while guys seen as sure-fire picks fail.
What we can say, though, right away is that the Raiders draft board looks substantially different than the one that Pro Football Focus put together.
Contrasting where each player was selected in the first round vs. their PFF Big Board Rank
Big Board: https://t.co/QiR7rWWsRs pic.twitter.com/FRBHObaVoM
— Scott Barrett (@ScottBarrettDFB) April 26, 2019
None of the Raiders picks were in the top 32 of Pro Football Focus’ pre-draft rankings. Clelin Ferrell was at 35, and was met with immediate skepticism from Raiders fans when picked at fourth overall, Josh Jacobs was at 60, and Johnathan Abram at 112.
PFF’s rankings are not always in line with consensus, and different people can look at the same player and see different things. The Raiders’ picks, though, were all out of line with consensus as well, where Clelin Ferrell was more commonly projected in the middle of the first round and not in the top 5, and Jacobs and Abram were infrequent selections to get into the late first round (often with the Raiders, to be fair). So if the Raiders hit a home run with this draft, it will be by going against the crowd.
