Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden is excited about his 2020 rookie class and deservedly so. Yet, comparing one of his prospects to an all-time NFL great might be a bit of a stretch.
The Raiders desperately needed help with their defensive secondary due to a lack of talent. Other than Trayvon Mullen, there was no real long-term answer at cornerback for the Silver and Black after the 2019 season. General manager Mike Mayock decided to address this position via the 2020 NFL Draft rather than investing big money on overpriced free agents. After landing Damon Arnette in the first round, Raiders brass chose Amik Robertson with their final selection of the draft.
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Jon Gruden: “He’s my favorite guy”
Head coach Jon Gruden spoke on Robertson’s potential, comparing him to another cornerback that helped get him the lone Super Bowl victory on his resume.
“I hate to come out and say he’s my favorite guy, but selfishly, deep down, somewhere inside of me, I wanted that guy bad. I just love what he’s about. He’s got a lot of Ronde Barber traits. He’s a powerful guy, he’s got great quickness, he’s got incredible recognition and he’s a good tackler.”
Robertson’s potential is there, he has the tackling ability which the Raiders desperately need, and of course, the quickness as Gruden alluded to. In college he showed that despite his height, he can cover taller receivers. In spite of that, comparing him to Barber before setting foot on an NFL field against pro wide receivers is a stretch. There’s nothing wrong with a coach being excited about a rookie addition and more than likely it’s Gruden hyping up the pick.
Love that Amik Robertson pick for the Raiders. He’s a dog. Here he is at 5-8 dominating 6-6 Collin Johnson off the line pic.twitter.com/0Xe55I59xb
— Dalton Johnson (@DaltonJ_Johnson) April 25, 2020
Barber, in case you’ve forgotten, was a three-time All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Forming part of that legendary 2002 defense that led the team to the only Super Bowl win in their history.
Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with a coach promoting his players but you also don’t want to speak too soon and put unnecessary pressure on them, especially rookies. Robertson could very well end up being a Pro Bowl cornerback or just as easily be out of the league in four or five years, we’ll have to wait to see him in action first. Football can’t get here soon enough.
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*Top Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
How are you allowed to report anything at all? Stop with false bs as Mayock didnt decide to address anything in draft because Mayock is not running s**t and makes no decisions let alone any personnel decisions. Gruden makes every single decision PERIOD. Mayock is a empty shell GM Grudens puppet n nothing more so if you wish to report stuff about Raiders and you want to have readers take you serious have true facts and details. With you saying what you did with Mayock in there you lost me n I dont care about anything else you had in there or believe any detailed accounting from you.
Ok bud 👠🤦😂ðŸ˜
Richard, I’m assuming you are a scout and are willing to go on the record. “Empty Shell”, are those Gruden’s or Davis’ words? BTW, this article has nothing to do with Mayock.
Final note, champ. You may want to turn it down a notch. We know that you don’t care, but other do about you and your blood pressure.
To Carlos
I am almost certain we still have our constitutional rights currently afforded us and as such I like exercising them now n again. The following exerpt is from the article I was exercising my rights about:
“General manager Mike Mayock decided to address this position via the 2020 NFL Draft rather than investing big money on overpriced free agents.”
As you can read Mayock is certainly part of article and as such the topic of my exercise. Mayock as I stated has no authority or acts in any capacity allowing him to decide anything. It is a fact that Gruden makes every decision as his contract allows and as his Napoleon complex mandates he do. I just believe that when writing an article that is made available to public a person should make certain that contents are pretty darn accurate. I know as a person reading such public material I would rather read fact and not fairytale.
Thanks Carlos for caring so much about my health. If we had more people such as you this world would be a much better place.
Take care