Insider names worst Raiders draft pick in recent history

The Las Vegas Raiders are hoping to turn their draft luck around with running back Ashton Jeanty, who the team selected sixth overall in April.

Prior to Jeanty’s selection, the Raiders have largely struggled to turn their top draft picks into careers of equal value. LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell in 2007 is far and away the primary example of a draft pick setting the Raiders back years. However, other first-round busts such as Robert Gallery (2004), Darrius Heyward-Bey (2009) and Clelin Ferrell (2019) have struggled to make the impact that their draft pedigree would suggest.

In the recent past, however, one pick has stood out as the most egregious of all.

This recent first-round pick hurts because of who else the Raiders could have landed.

Las Vegas Raiders insider and draft analyst Matt Holder went on Bleacher Report to re-draft the worst pick of the last five years, and he set his sights squarely on former Alabama offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood, who was selected 17th overall by the Raiders in 2021.

“Then-head coach John Gruden and then-general manager Mike Mayock became infamously known for making first-round reaches that quickly turned into busts during their tenure in Las Vegas. The 2020 duo of wide receiver Henry Ruggs III and cornerback Damon Arnette could also fit here,” Holder admitted.

“While Ruggs’ situation was certainly more tragic, Leatherwood only lasted one season with the Silver and Black. Granted, part of that had to do with a regime change, but there aren’t many top-20 selections who didn’t even make it to year two with the club that drafted them.”

Leatherwood was considered a reach by most analysts, and his lone season in Las Vegas proved those unflattering opinions correct.

Leatherwood did start all 17 games for the Raiders in 2021, but he primarily struggled with penalties. Eventually, the team had no choice but to move him away from tackle and kick him inside to offensive guard. Leatherwood was gone at the end of his first season, and would play only four more games with the Chicago Bears in 2022 before being out of football entirely.

What would happen if the Raiders went another direction?

To make matters worse for the Raiders, they had a little extra salt poured into the wound six picks later, when the Minnesota Vikings drafted former Virginia Tech offensive tackle Christian Darrisaw.

“[Darrisaw] has become a quality tackle in the NFL, earning a four-year, $76 million contract extension with the Vikings last summer,” Holder wrote.

“Granted, the former Hokie would be playing on the right side in Las Vegas, but he’d still be a better option than the guy who has taken just 32 offensive snaps since his rookie season, per Pro Football Reference.”

Other selections that would have filled needs for the Raiders include Miami defensive lineman Gregory Rousseau (30th overall to the Buffalo Bills), Oregon safety Jevon Holland (36th overall to the Miami Dolphins) and even Leatherwood’s teammate in interior offensive lineman Landon Dickerson (37th overall to the Philadelphia Eagles).

Leatherwood was a massive whiff by the Gruden-Mayock regime, and it begs the question on where the Raiders would be now had they gone a different direction.