The Oakland Raiders are one of the teams that could trade down in the top five if names like Johnny Manziel, Sammy Watkins, Jadeveon Clowney or Khalil Mack are picked and Reggie McKenzie may have some willing partners in the Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Minnesota Vikings, as they are all looking at trading up and that could enable the Raiders to snag some extra draft picks.
The Raiders are coming into the event with needs on both sides of the ball and after signing names like Justin Tuck, Austin Howard, James Jones and Maurice Jones-Drew in the draft, GM Reggie McKenzie has a number of options in the first round. The team is picking in the top five for the second straight season and if the players that the team has on their board are taken by the time they select, expect McKenzie to look at trading down in the top 10 or in the first round. The move worked to perfection last season, as McKenzie said DJ Hayden was the only player they were looking at and they ended up drafting him at number 12 after trading out of the third spot
The Raiders are targeting Clowney, Mack, Watkins and Greg Robinson as their main picks on the board according to ESPN.com and if those players go in picks 1 to 4, expect the Raiders to trade out. The team would love to get Watkins, but McKenzie is not afraid of adding more picks and moving back, as this is a deep draft and he should still be able to get an impact player in the first round even if they move down out of the top five.
The draft class in 2014 will be important for McKenzie, but the draft that will likely dictate his future and the future of Dennis Allen with the team is the one from 2013. The Raiders had a high amount of picks in that draft and they added more with the Hayden deal with the Dolphins and that puts pressure on some of those names to start performing in year two. Hayden was injured for part of the season, but the Raiders are high on him so he can get a bit of a pass for now, but the progress of the rest of the draft will be interesting.
McKenzie's pick of Tyler Wilson ended up being a waste of a fourth round pick, but since the team had four sixth round picks and two seventh round picks, he was able to make up for it. The team got some production from Mychal Rivera, but names like Brice Butler, Latavius Murray and Nick Kasa have the chance to get playing time and that is how McKenzie will be judged. Sio Moore was very solid last season after being picked in the third round, while Menelik Watson was up and down but he is by no means a bust yet. Those sixth rounders will be interesting to watch, as Rivera showed that he can be very good, while Murray can end up as a solid third back behind Darren McFadden and Jones Drew.