Associated Press
Las Vegas Raiders GM Mike Mayock, left, embraces head coach Jon Gruden after defeating the New Orleans Saints in an NFL football game, Monday, Sept. 21, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)
Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021 | 2 a.m.
If the opening of training camp is known as the around-the-clock grind to start the NFL season for the players, then this week’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., is the equivalent for front-office types — especially this year.
The NFL Scouting Combine is canceled for the second straight year because of the coronavirus, leaving the 71st annual all-star game of graduated college players the best chance for teams to do widespread prospect evaluation. The event caps at 11:30 this morning with the 136 invited players getting live action in a game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium after a full week of practices in front of representatives from all 32 NFL teams.
Raiders General Manager Mike Mayock and his staff — teams were allowed 10 total people in the Senior Bowl bubble — have acted accordingly. Mayock told raiders.com that he’s been putting in 18-hour days to get to know every single player at the Senior Bowl.
Raiders’ fans must hope that diligence pays off. The team is in dire need of a successful 2021 NFL Draft, scheduled to take place from April 29-May 1 in Cleveland, to help get over the hump and into the playoffs after an 8-8 debut season in Las Vegas.
By Mayock’s own admission, last year’s draft wasn’t quite good enough for the Raiders.
“I was disappointed in the productivity of our rookies, I’ll be the first person to admit that,” Mayock told raiders.com.
Las Vegas’ pair of 2020 first-round picks, wide receiver Henry Ruggs III and cornerback Damon Arnette, both dealt with injuries and inconsistency. No one else in the class proved much of a difference-maker either including either of the Raiders’ two third-round picks.
Las Vegas traded away running back Lynn Bowden in the preseason, and wide receiver Bryan Edwards was better in practice than on gameday though he also missed time with injury.
Put simply, the Raiders need more out of their rookies in 2021. Now in coach Jon Gruden’s fourth year, this is a team expected to win now and one with too many holes to fill strictly through free agency and internal options.
Specifically, they need an infusion of talent along the defensive line and in the defensive backfield after settling into their usual place at the bottom of the league rankings in defense for another year. The Raiders sat 30th in the NFL in sack rate at 3.94% and 26th in giving up 7.3 yards per pass attempt.
Mayock likely loitered more around the defensive drills this week in Mobile and would be wise to keep his eyes there in today’s game. The next few defensive players he decides to draft could ultimately determine the success of his tenure at the helm of the Raiders’ personnel department.
One of the main questions that came with plucking Mayock off of the NFL Network set two years ago and into the Raiders’ front-office was whether his draft-analysis as a television personality would translate when pressed into real action.
So far, despite cries to the contrary on each side, he’s gotten an incomplete grade. Defenders would say his picks have been promising; detractors would say they’ve been pedestrian at best.
The truth is, it takes three years to adequately grade a draft class so Mayock’s first class can’t even fully be judged yet. On the upside, especially for those holding out hope for a better showing from the 2020 picks next season, the 2019 class mostly progressed well in its second year.
Maxx Crosby led the team in sacks for the second straight year, standing out easily as the best value Mayock has ever extracted in using a fourth-round pick in 2019 on the edge rusher out of Eastern Michigan. Fellow 2019 defensive end pick Clelin Ferrell emerged as one of the team’s best players, though he’ll always be judged through the lens of being taken fourth overall — which still seems at best like a minor reach.
At least that pair gives Mayock a track record of finding the defensive-line talent in the draft, an ability he’ll need to employ again this year. There’s more reason for concern with his secondary selections.
Johnathan Abram, a safety taken in the first round in 2019, was the Raiders’ worst starter by most metrics last season. He gave up 11.6 yards per target in pass coverage, the eighth worst mark in the NFL according to Pro Football Reference.
Arnette wasn’t much better when he was on the field, giving up 9.7 yards per target to rate the 12th-worst in the league among cornerbacks.
Trayvon Mullen, the 40th overall pick in the 2019 draft, has been Mayock’s most inspired defensive-back selection but he needs to cut down on a tendency to give up big plays and commit pass-interference penalties.
Even if all the aforementioned players progress in the 2021 season, they’ll still need to be complemented by a few steady newcomers to pull the Raiders’ defense up to average territory. There’s no doubt several players who could potentially fill the void will be on the field in Mobile today.
Without many other opportunities before the draft, Mayock desperately needs to find them. The Raiders must hope the 5:30 a.m.-11:15 p.m. Senior Bowl work schedule Mayock described proves as productive as he makes it sound.
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
