The Oakland Raiders’ Draft last April looks just as bad as the experts thought it would be
The Oakland Raiders love the stopwatch and it often clouds the teams’ judgment on draft day. WR Darrius Heyward-Bey was the fastest player timed of all the WRs in the NFL Draft. That was enough for the Raiders to pick him at #7 in the first round. Heyward-Bey has caught 5 passes for 74 yards (14.8 avg) and he has carried the ball 2 times for 19 yards (9.5 ypc) so far this season. It’s hard to judge him yet due to the poor QB play of the Raiders so far this season. Safety Michael Mitchell (2nd round, #47 overall) also was timed up and thought to be a speed burner. Too bad that speed doesn’t always convert into production as Mitchell has 7 whole tackles this season. DE Matt Shaughnessy (3rd round, #71 overall) has not done much this season as he has 10 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 sack. But due to injuries his playing time is going to pick up starting next week so we will get to see what he can really do. WR Louis Murphy (4th round, #124 overall) has been one of the better playmakers on the offense and he is pretty darn fast. He has caught 16 passes for 232 yards (14.5 avg) with 1 TD grab and he has also carried the ball 2 times for 5 yards (2.5 ypc). Murphy also has 1 tackle so far this year. TE Brandon Myers (6th round, #202 overall) has caught 2 passes for 7 yards (3.5 avg) so far this season. DEs Slade Norris (4th round, #126 overall) and Stryker Sulak (6th round, #199 overall) have not played for the Raiders this season. It will be pretty hard to judge this draft class until the Raiders get decent QB play but it doesn’t look too good right now.

