While the first round of the NFL Draft hasn’t been kind to the Raiders over the last two decades, they’ve hit big on several players later in the draft. Even in recent years, they’ve struck gold with Maxx Crosby, Hunter Renfrow, and Nate Hobbs, all of who were drafted on Day 3.
But which pick has been their best outside of Round 1 over the last 15 or 20 years? Well, that answer is pretty obvious.
In a recent article by Michael Renner of Pro Football Focus, he named each team’s best value selection since 2006. And for the Raiders, that was none other than Derek Carr in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. Here is what Renner had to say about that selection:
Maxx Crosby could be a good pick here, as he was taken two rounds later, but Carr obviously plays the more valuable position. (Derek) Carr is one of only four quarterbacks who was drafted outside the first round in the PFF era and is currently being paid over $30 million per year (Russell Wilson, Kirk Cousins and Prescott as well).
Finding a franchise quarterback at any point in the draft represents major value, but doing so in the second round is almost unheard of as Renner mentioned. He’s improved in each of the last three seasons and led the Raiders to the playoffs during the 2021 season.
We can debate if Derek Carr is a top-10 quarterback or not, but what we can’t even argue is that he was an amazing pick by the Raiders in the 2014 NFL Draft. He is among the best draft values in the league over the last few decades.