The Las Vegas Raiders decided to part ways with their 2020 third-round selection, Lynn Bowden Jr, over the weekend, a development that surprised many.
After much ado this offseason, the “Joker” of the Raiders offense will not get the opportunity to put on the Silver and Black. Needless to say, many fans were left speechless and confused as to why the team would move on from Bowden without giving him an opportunity. Raiders brass opted to ship Bowden and a sixth-round pick to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for a fourth-round selection.
As with any NFL trade, there appeared to be different theories as to why general manager Mike Mayock would pull the trigger on this. In order to prevent any sort of falsehoods, Mayock made it clear why the organization traded away one of their highly touted rookies before setting foot on the field.
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It was a “football decision only” for the Raiders
Yesterday, Mayock spoke on the transaction and what led to the decision via The Athletic.
“No. 1, it was a football decision only. Character, off-the-field, the kid did absolutely nothing wrong. We did all our homework on the kid off the field. He worked his tail off. He came to work every day. So this was completely a football decision. It had nothing to do with anything else.”
It was good on Mayock’s part to prevent any confusion as to why the team gave up on Bowden. A business decision, nothing more as far as the Raiders were concerned, not a character or attitude issue. If anything, the general manager put the blame on himself as far as what’s happened with Bowden. Mayock also admitted that maybe it was all too much to expect from Bowden this year.
A Case of “Over Drafting”?
“Quite frankly, I think the position change is a difficult one in any year but it’s exaggerated in a COVID-19 year with no offseason. You’re taking a kid that was a slot receiver in ’18, a quarterback in ’19 and asking him to play running back in ’20.”
It’s strange how things work out in the NFL sometimes. A lot of the hype surrounding Bowden was due to his versatility, having played three key offensive positions. It appears Mayock reached with this selection when he could’ve just selected a natural running back if that’s what the team needed. Then again, the difficulty of training and preparing this past offseason was unforeseen by most. As Maurice Moton of Silver and Black Today Tweeted, “Sometimes you gotta keep it simple.” Hopefully Raiders brass took this loss as a learning experience in their drafting process moving forward.
Sometimes you gotta keep it simple. https://t.co/PUHFonTAyJ
— Maurice Moton (@MoeMoton) September 7, 2020
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*Top Photo: Nell Redmond/Associated Press
