Getty TE draft prospect Brevin Jordan.
Right now, the Las Vegas Raiders should be focused mostly on free agency. They’ve got major needs all over the roster and are poised to spend some big money. Once free agency is over, the focus will be directed towards the draft.
The Raiders’ needs are clear. They need playmakers all over the defense, they could use a wide receiver and some help on the offensive line. One thing the team definitely doesn’t need is more tight ends. Even with Jason Witten retiring this offseason, the team has Darren Waller and Foster Moreau, who are both very good players.
However, there’s one tight end in the draft who would love to wear the silver and black. Miami’s Brevin Jordan is a Nevada native and he didn’t hide the fact that he’d like to return home when speaking to NFL Network.
“Oh, my gosh — please tell the Raiders to show (interest), please,” Jordan said, via 247 Sports. “It would be a dream come true to stay home and learn under Darren Waller and play for the Raiders. That would be a dream come true.”
“My mom deserves it, man,” Jordan added. “She’s a Stage III breast cancer survivor. So she deserves it all, man. I want to repay her. To be able to play in the NFL — and play in front of her, at home, in front of all my family — that would be a dream come true, man. But she deserves it all.”
If the Raiders weren’t stacked at tight end, Jon Gruden would be all over this kid. Unfortunately, it’ll be hard for him to justify adding another tight end.
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Jordan Among Top TE Prospects
Jordan isn’t some random prospect who is hoping to drafted by the Raiders. He’s one of the top tight ends coming out of college. According to Michael Renner of Pro Football Focus, he’s the third-best tight end in the class.
“Jordan is a very intriguing project at the position because he has the requisite dynamism described in the opener that could actually beat man coverage at the NFL level,” Renner wrote. “At the same time, he’s still not really a tight end at all.”
What’s interesting about Jordan is that he lines up in the backfield quite a bit. He’s certainly not a traditional tight end. That will probably turn off a lot of teams but he could interest some of the more creative coaches in the NFL.
Raiders Not Likely to Target TE Early in Draft
As badly as Jordan wants to be a Raiders, it’s hard to see it happening. He’s likely to get drafted in the first four rounds and the team can’t afford to use that valuable draft capital on a player who doesn’t fit a need. That said, don’t rule out Gruden going rogue.
Everybody knows how much he loves tight ends. Perhaps he meets with Jordan and he tells the coach everything he wants to hear. Gruden will start thinking of all the creative ways he could the young tight end. It seems unlikely but never rule anything out with the Raiders.
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