The Las Vegas Raiders have a pressing need at wide receiver, which can be addressed with one of their two first-round pick. However, it could be argued that it’s in their best interest to wait until later in the draft.
In Eddie Paskal’s Upon Further Review podcast, Chris Rose of NFL Media, appearing as a guest, argues that the Raiders should wait to select a wide receiver in the 2020 NFL Draft in response to Paskal saying that this is one of the deepest wide receiver class in recent history:
“You’re going to see guys that’ll get drafted probably in the back end of the second round or even early in the third round who could’ve been a back end first rounder on given years and I think it’s you know, I wouldn’t take a receiver in the first round, I just… I wouldn’t, I would find something else that I need and I would take cuz’ I don’t think there’s going to be a drop-off from here to here”
Chris Rose: Raiders can wait to draft WR
Related: Raiders must not neglect offensive line in the draft
Paskal then adds the hit-and-miss nature of getting a wide receiver in the first round and how teams can find hidden in later ones, to which Rose brings up the fact Sammy Watkins is a fine player but not what he was expected as a top end prospect:
When you talk about the 20 best receivers in the sport, Sammy Watkins does not not mentioned, right? He’s a top five pick, I believe.
The list doesn’t stop there. Breshad Perriman, Cory Davis and Corey Coleman are other such examples. The Raiders could safely wait until the second or third round and still select talented prospects such as Michael Pittman Jr. On the other hand, there’s no arguing there’s top talent to be had early in the draft, where receivers such as Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins were picked.
Putting aside how much (or not) the Raiders would benefit from not drafting a wide receiver in the first round, there’s an interesting tidbit: The Silver and Black will have options in the upcoming route and there will be many way to improve their roster and pick up where they left off last season.
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