Chiefs and the AFC West: A Look at the
Oakland Raiders Draft Picks · by Paul Pulley
The Oakland Raiders 2018 Draft Selections
Without going into an in-depth look at the Raiders draft picks, this is who the Raiders selected in the 2018 draft that the Chiefs could be competing against twice a year for the next few seasons.
Round 1, pick 15: Kolton Miller, OT from UCLA. A huge tackle at 6-foot-9 and 310 lbs., Miller has long arms, huge hands and played both tackle positions at UCLA, but was the starting left tackle for 2017. Reasonably athletic for a huge man, Miller is a good run blocker, but can struggle against speed rushers. With the Raiders LT, 35 year old Donald Penn, coming off foot surgery late last season, the Raiders could be looking to replace Penn with Miller or most likely, they are planning on playing Miller at RT in place of the departed Marshall Newhouse.
Round 2, pick 57: DT – P.J. Hall. At 6-foot-1 and 308 lbs., the DT from Sam Houston St. was considered a mid to late round pick by most. While having good production in college, he will find the competition across from him in the NFL to be at a much higher level. He could find playing time as a reserve DT in the Raiders rotation.
Round 3, pick 65: Brandon Parker OT from North Carolina A&T. Another large, long limbed OT, at 6-foot-8 and 305 lbs. Although similar in size to Miller, coming from an FCS program like round 2 pick Hall, he will likely need an adjustment period before being ready to start against NFL caliber players.
Round 3, pick 87: Arden Key, the 6-foot-6 and 238 lbs. DE/OLB from LSU. Key has good speed rush ability but may not be effective against the run. Literally a boom or bust prospect. Key could boom on the field or get busted off it. The Raiders will need to watch close so that Key doesn’t follow a career path like Alden Smith.
Round 4, pick 110: Nick Nelson, 5-foot-11 and 208 lbs. cornerback from Wisconsin. Nelson played only one year at Wisconsin after starting his collegiate career at Hawaii. He has been fairly productive defending passes but has never logged an interception. Was used as a punt returner in college and could very well see that duty as a Raider.
Round 5, pick 140: Maurice Hurst, DT form Michigan. A little smallish at 6-foot-1 and 292 lbs., Hurst is super quick off the ball, but sometimes so quick he can take himself out of a draw play. There have been questions raised about his effort consistency. Some considered Hurst a 1st round talent but a medical red flag raised at the combine possibly caused his draft stock to drop.
Round 5, pick 173: 6-foot-1, 211 lbs. Punter, Johnny Townsend. After the surprise move of releasing Marquette King this spring, the Raiders drafted the strong legged Townsend, who led the FBS in gross yardage as a Junior and was 2nd as a Senior, averaging over 47 yards per punt. Townsend’s weakness is his hang time. With long punts coupled with short hang times, Tyreek Hill should be salivating at the thought of returning punts against the Raiders.
Round 6, pick 216: Azeem Victor, ILB from Washington. The 6-foot-2 and 240 lbs. ILB seemed to be on a good track for a NFL career after his Sophomore and early Junior seasons, but broke his leg in a game late in his Junior year. Coming back as a Senior, in fairly poor football condition, Victor recorded only 30 tackles in 5 out of 9 starts, finishing his college career suspended after a DUI. If he makes the team, Victor does have a chance to learn from some old guy named Derrick Johnson.
Round 7, pick 228: Wide Receiver Marcell Ateman, Oklahoma St. Running a 4.62 – 40 at the Combine, Ateman isn’t all that fast, but at 6-foot-5 and 216 lbs., he has good hands and good body control. With the depth of receivers in Oakland, Ateman might have trouble making the 53 and could end up on the practice squad.
Projections and Jersey Numbers
Miller, jersey # 77, could be one of the starting offensive tackles for Oakland this fall. Probably at RT assuming Penn is healthy. If Penn isn’t ready, we could see Miller at LT.
Parker, jersey #75, will be a project and offensive line depth. I wouldn’t expect to see him on the field unless injuries to others forces it.
Hall, jersey # 92, probably won’t be a starter at the beginning of the year, but if his 2nd round status pays off for Oakland, he could be starting by mid season. Either way, he should get playing time in the DL rotation.
Hurst, jersey # 73, listed as a DT, could end up as a DE playing behind and eventually replacing Mario Edwards Jr., who is in the final year of his rookie deal.
Key, jersey # 87, could be a DE but could also play OLB, taking over the side opposite Bruce Irvin and possibly becoming Irvin’s replacement in 2019.
Nelson, jersey #38, will likely see a lot of special teams play and may see time in sub-sets on defense.
Townsend, jersey # 5, I would expect to see a lot of. If the Chiefs defense improves the way some believe it will, the Raiders will be doing a lot of punting.
Victor, jersey # 57, will have to earn his spot on special teams as he will be deep on the depth chart.
Ateman, jersey # 88, will also need to find a place on special teams, but may get playing time if the Raiders move on from either Johnny Holton or Seth Roberts.
Oakland Raiders Cap Situation
For 2018, Oakland had just over $7.6M cap roll-over, giving them a 2018 salary cap of ~$184.8M. Pre-draft, the Raiders had approximately $6M of cap space. The effective cap hit for the 2018 draft class to the top 51 will be ~$2.24M leaving the Raiders with only about $3.76M of cap space. If Oakland keeps all 9 of their draft picks, the 2019 cap hit of the draftees will be just under $9M.
Spotrac shows 4 of the Raiders top 6 salaries are for offensive linemen (although OTC reports that Rodney Hudson restructured), and with Donald Penn coming off surgery at 35 years old, the Raiders drafting 2 OL should not have been a surprise. I could see them drafting an interior OL early next year also.
The Raiders have ample cap space for 2019, but they exercised Amari Cooper’s 5th year option, which will pay him about $14M next year. Mario Edwards Jr. is playing 2018 on the final year of his rookie deal and the largest future contract the Raiders will be working on is for Kahlil Mack. Mack is playing 2018 on his 5th year option and Oakland will be making him one of, if not the highest paid defensive player in the NFL before the start of the 2019 League year.
The Raiders have had exactly 1 (one) winning season in the last 15 years. For 2018, Oakland has brought in an almost entirely new coaching staff. A head coach that may be bringing to them an outdated philosophy. It’s hard to imagine the Raiders showing much improvement this year and I think they will be vying with Denver to see which AFC West team picks earliest in the 2019 draft.
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