One of the most fun articles of the summer is Chad Reuter’s redraft of the entire NFL. The concept is simple; if all the players in the NFL were thrown into a pool, who would be drafted first if you were rebuilding a franchise?
In Reuter’s latest draft, he had the Jaguars picking Aaron Rodgers at No. 1. Derek Carr went at No. 12 to the Vikings, meaning the Raiders had no shot of getting back their franchise quarterback. In this draft, 12 quarterbacks came off the board in the first 13 picks.
So who did the Raiders pick at No. 22? Well, that would be none other than superstar receiver Ja’Marr Chase. Here is what Reuter had to say about that selection for Las Vegas:
“The Raiders have a tough choice between all of the elite pass-catchers still on the board, but they take a downfield playmaker who is still on the rise.”
It’s tough to build a team around a wide receiver, but Chase might be the single most explosive weapon in the NFL. He had a historic rookie season with the Bengals and just turned 22 this summer.
In this seven-round draft, the Raiders did end up grabbing a quarterback later in Marcus Mariota. And here is a look at their full draft after seven rounds:
Round 1: Ja’Marr Chase, WR (No. 22 overall)
Round 2: J.C. Jackson, CB (No. 43)
Round 3: Marcus Mariota, QB (No. 86)
Round 4: Lavonte David, LB (No. 107)
Round 5: Quinnen Williams, DT (No. 150)
Round 6: Orlando Brown Jr., OT (No. 171)
Round 7: Jadeveon Clowney, Edge (No. 214)
While Mariota isn’t the most inspiring name on this list, the rest of the players are worth getting excited about. Jackson and Brown are two of the best players in the league at their respective positions and Williams is an emerging star at defensive tackle.
But this just goes to show how much talent the Raiders have on their roster as they had five of their own players selected in the top 70 picks (Derek Carr, Davante Adams, Maxx Crosby, Chandler Jones, Darren Waller).