The Las Vegas Raiders have had a remarkable NFL draft, arguably their best in recent memory. Unlike the previous two regimes, they managed to address every position of need, except for the quarterback position, and selected some of the top players in the entire draft. This strategic planning and execution bodes well for the team's performance in the upcoming 2024 season."
While they could not get that franchise rookie they so desperately wanted, they walked away with some great players. We were wondering how the draft would go with this new regime. With Tom Telesco's history with the Los Angeles Chargers in that he has missed and hit on several prospects, there were questions as to what would happen.
With Antonio Pierce being a first-time head coach and a defensive-minded coach whose offense needs a lot of work, we weren't sure how that would go either. But Pierce opened up about his first NFL draft recently, and he is pleasantly pleased.
"Yeah, I thought the first draft working with [Tom] Telesco and our personnel staff, our coaches," Pierce said on Friday. "Thought [they] did an excellent job of getting the information, discussing, working through different scenarios, working through hiccups. Then we got to the draft, we had a plan, it was clear, we stayed on track.
"I think the coolest thing about it when you have so many mock drafts or different scenarios that you think can play out, the first round is interesting, but then after that, it kind of becomes like clockwork. You add you subtract, look on your board, you see your guys there, and you go get the players that you know fit the Raiders."
The Raiders somehow walked away with the overall best football player in the draft, Brock Bowers, who gave the Raiders the best overall value in the draft by many people's standards. Then, they somehow got the best interior offensive lineman in the draft in the second round.
Of course, they also drafted some projects like DJ Glaze and Decamerion Richardson, but those picks also bring this class together as one that is an A grade. If you ask me, Antonio Pierce's first draft was great, and it certainly is starting to feel like his first won't be his last.
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