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Though the NFL draft is over six months away, it’s never too early to start thinking about which players teams are going to draft. Armed with two first-round picks in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Oakland Raiders will be major players. The draft will be hosted in the Raiders’ soon-to-be home state of Nevada and the team figures to have some big needs.
Oakland currently has a winning record, but they’re going to need some help in the draft. Linebacker and wide receiver are the most glaring needs with the defensive line and safety also being potential needs. Fortunately for general manager Mike Mayock, he’s going to have some high picks to help fill those positions. Despite some big names being available on the trade market this season, the Raiders have refused to spend big and give up their first-round picks. Time will tell if they’re able to resist trading one of them, but if they do, there could be some interesting prospects on the way.
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Raiders Take Alabama’s Henry Ruggs With First Pick, Says Analyst
By now, everybody knows the Raiders need help at wide receiver. Besides Tyrell Williams, there’s not a lot of impressive talent on the roster. There’s no definitive number one guy. The good news is that the 2020 wide receiver class is loaded with talent. According to a mock draft conducted by Pro Football Focus, six wide receivers will be taken in the 2020 draft and one of them will be Alabama’s Henry Ruggs, who will be drafted by the Raiders with the 19th overall pick. Here’s what PFF had to say about Ruggs:
The value of speed is at an all-time high in the NFL, and Ruggs has more of it than any other receiver in the class. He also has the ball skills and production. He’s dropped only four of 80 catchable passes in his career and hauled in 22 touchdowns so far.
Alabama certainly has a good history of churning out top wide receiver talent. Julio Jones, Amari Cooper and Calvin Ridley are three recent Alabama wide receivers who have played well in the NFL. Ruggs hasn’t been a yardage machine, but he has caught quite a few touchdowns through his two and half years under Nick Saban.
Ruggs’ most notable attribute is his speed. He doesn’t have a 40-yard dash time on record, but anyone with eyes can see that he’s unbelievably fast. The Raiders love their speedy receivers, so he’d be a very interesting fit in Las Vegas.
Raiders Add to the Defensive Line With Second First-Rounder
With the second pick the Raiders have in the first-round, PFF predicts them to take defensive tackle out of Florida State, Marvin Wilson. Here’s what they had to say:
Wilson doesn’t quite look the part the way Derrick Brown or Javon Kinlaw, but he’s outproduced both – and every other defensive tackle in the country – so far this season. After earning a 90.0 overall grade last season as a true sophomore, Wilson has been nearly unblockable this year with the highest pass-rushing grade of any interior defensive lineman in the country.
Adding another defensive tackle doesn’t seem like a likely move for the Raiders. They have Maurice Hurst, Jonathan Hankins and P.J. Hall. If Mayock and Gruden think that Wilson is a can’t miss talent and he’s available, then they may add him, but needs at linebacker and defensive end seem much more prominent. Wilson does bring a lot of potential as an interior pass-rusher, which Oakland certainly needs. Linebacker Isaiah Simmons out of Clemson would make more sense for the Raiders if he’s available. Mayock has already shown that he likes players from Clemson and Alabama.
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