NFL Oakland Raiders

2015 NFL Draft: Biggest Need Early On For Oakland Raiders

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By @rickstavig

Oakland Raiders, NFL Draft

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The 2015 NFL Draft is still months away and while we’re still relatively young in both professional and college football seasons, it’s never too early to start thinking about future team needs after this season. This is particularly true for the teams at the bottom of the league pile, who we know will have an early pick in the next draft. Who better to start with than the Oakland Raiders, the first team to fire their head coach in ’14?

Where to begin? This team is a hot mess. Simply put, the overall talent level on this team is vastly inferior to league average, particularly on offense. Normally, a team that will likely be picking first needs a franchise QB, but in this instance it’s not a given. Derek Carr, taken 36th overall in the ’14 draft, didn’t play all that bad prior to getting hurt (ankle and knee), throwing for 734 yards (63.2% completion) with a 4/4 TD to INT ratio. Considering how bad the line, backfield and receiving corps is, those aren’t awful numbers.

But say the Raiders have the top pick and the chance to select consensus number one prospect overall in Marcus Mariota (QB, Oregon)? That’ll depend on factors like how Carr plays the rest of the year, who the new head coach will be, if there’s a new GM replacing Reggie McKenzie, etc. We’ll have a much better idea of that at the end of the season. If Carr continues his level of play and furthers his developmental arc, I’d be inclined to either trade the top pick for other picks or take an elite edge protector like Cedric Ogbuehi (OT, Texas A&M).

This leads us to the true biggest need on offense: linemen. Pass protection surprisingly hasn’t been too bad as the Raiders have only give up 4 sacks this year, second fewest in the NFL. Granted, Oakland is 25th in the league in pass attempts and 25th in passing yards per game, but still, the line has done a decent job protecting Carr and backup Matt McGloin. Run blocking has been a different story however, as the team is dead last in the league in rushing yards per game with just 61.5. This line just can’t get much of a push up front. You can get by being one-dimensional on offense if you have an elite QB, but that obviously isn’t the case here.

I think C Stefen Wisniewski and G Gabe Jackson are building blocks but more talent and depth needs to be added here. An elite OT like Ogbuehi, Brandon Scherff (Iowa) or Andrus Peat (Stanford) would be smart options early in round one. The loss of Jared Veldheer in free agency was baffling at the time and looks even crazier now. Why McKenzie didn’t franchise him is beyond me, but they’ll have a chance to select a franchise edge protector next spring. That’ll help in protecting Carr, giving him time to throw and also boost the porous ground game.

Rick Stavig is an NFL Draft Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickstavig or add him to your network on Google+.

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