The Alex Leatherwood posted the Raiders tackle on Tuesday, a year after taking him with the 17th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Cutting a first-round draft pick after one season is an amazing move — except for the Raiders’ draft picks of the Jon Gruden/Mike Mayock era, which really isn’t surprising.
Gruden was the Raiders’ head coach and Mayock was the general manager for three drafts from 2019-2021, and the Raiders made some surprisingly poor picks during that time.
Leatherwood was actually the third consecutive Raiders first-round draft pick.
The Raiders had three first-round picks in 2019, and all three performed well — but still not great: Clelyn Ferrell, Josh Jacobs And Jonathan Abram All struggled to make a big impact, and the Raiders didn’t pick up a fifth-year option in any of their contracts.
A poor draft went beyond the first round under Gruden and Mayock. Trayvon MullenThe Raiders’ 2019 second-round pick, was Traded to Cardinals Yesterday was the conditional seventh round exam. The Raiders received three third-round picks in 2020 — Lynn Bowden, Brian Edwards And Tanner Muse – and none of them are still on the team.
First-year Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler didn’t get a lot of good young talent when they took over the team Gruden and Mayock left behind. The Raiders have missed a lot of draft picks in recent years.
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