It’s been just over three years since Mike Mayock was fired as GM of the Raiders, but he still has insights into his former team, and he was asked last week about the direction the Raiders are headed under Tom Brady, John Spytek and Pete Carroll.
In an exclusive interview with Betway, Mayock shared his thoughts on the Raiders’ offseason and praised the team for re-signing a pair his former draft picks.
“I think you have to be a fan of the moves they’ve made so far,” Mayock said. “What I really liked was how they solidified and improved the defensive line, which might be one of the better ones in the league. You extend Maxx Crosby, we drafted a kid named Malcolm Koonce who had eight sacks two years ago and what was one of the rising young defensive ends in the NFL.”
“[Koonce] got hurt last year, didn’t play, but they were able to sign him to a one-year, $12m ‘prove it’ deal. This kid’s exciting. If you pair him with Maxx and try and get something out of Tyree Wilson, that three-man rotation along with Christian Wilkins inside is outstanding,” Mayock continued.
“I think their defensive line and ability to rush the quarterback in a division that has some tremendous quarterbacks is a really good place to start. They signed an offensive guard, Alex Kappa, which allows them to move Jackson Powers-Johnson from guard to center, which is his more natural position that solidifies their offensive line. O-line and D-line is a good place to start, so I think they’re already an improved team from last year.”
As for who Mayock thinks the Raiders should target with the no. 6 pick, he believes the team should take a page out of his playbook and draft a running back in the first round.
“We drafted Josh Jacobs there, which was kind of the perfect fit for Jon Gruden and what he wanted to do. I think Ashton Jeanty from Boise State would be an ideal fit for what Pete Carroll wants to do. [In Seattle] Pete always ran the football downhill, physical, used play action with Russell Wilson. That was their identity, so I love the Ashton Jeanty fit there,” Mayock said.
To this point in the pre-draft process, no player has been linked to the Raiders more than Jeanty and the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore has been endorsing the potential pick for weeks.
Bonsignore believes the addition of Geno Smith only raises the odds Jeanty will end up in Las Vegas.
There was a chance Jeanty could go to the Raiders even without a clear starting quarterback on the roster, but with Smith now in the building, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a head coach like Carroll, who values the running back position, take the best running back in the draft next month.
If not Jeanty, keep an eye on North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton. He’s the no. 2 running back on many draft boards and Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter said last month that some teams have him ranked as a higher prospect than Jeanty.
