If the Raiders do not draft a defensive player with their second round selection then I expect them to go with a wide receiver.
There is a staggering list of talent that may be had in the 2nd round.
Potential big play receivers like Mario Manningham from Michigan, Adarius Bowman from Oaklahoma State, DJ Hall from Alabama, Early Doucet from LSU and Limas Sweed from Texas may all be around when that pick comes up. I expect James Hardy and Malcolm Kelly to be drafted in the first round.
Adarius Bowman and Mario Manningham are the two that interest me the most out of this group.
They are BOTH easily first round picks in most years.
I love it when someone who gets caught smoking weed in college, a place where underage drinking is the norm, slips in the draft (Moss, Sapp) and winds up having a HOF career.
Adarius Bowman may have a chance to do JUST THAT!!! Bowman was busted for marijuana at UNC and kicked out of school.
He sat out for a year and, like many UNC cast-offs, ended up getting into Oklahoma State where he had back to back 1,000 yard seasons, scoring 20 TD's along the way.
He is 6-4, 220 lbs and he has run a sub 4.5 forty.
Drafting him in the second would make Jerry Porter expendable and wouldn't it sound great next year..."JaMarcus to Adarius...TOUCHDOWN RRRAAAAIIDDEERS!!!"
Mario Manningham is not as large a target as Adarius Bowman but he is definitely in his class.
Manningham stands at 6-1, weighs in at 185 and runs a 4.2 forty. He is leaving Michigan a year early and is already #4 in Michigan History with 26 receiving touchdowns.
Any of these receivers would instantly improve the offense. They are BOTH better than Jerry Porter in my book...AND their cheaper too!!!
Of the next three, I would place DJ Hall on his own in between the Manningham/Bowman and Sweed/Duecet combos.
DJ Hall is a receiver on the rise.
He has his biggest games against the biggest teams.
Hall went for 172 yards and two TDs on 6 Receptions in Alabama's upset of Arkansas, scored 2 more touchdowns on 13 catches for 185 yards against Tennessee and took one in for six against LSU.
DJ finished the year with 67 catches for 1,005 yards. That gave him back to back 1,000 yard seasons.
Sweed and Doucet deserve consideration, but, I don't see either of them being picked over Jamaal Charles or Erin Henderson. In fact, IF, Jamaal Charles is available, he would trump all but the top two receivers, in my opinion.
I'll get to Jamaal Charles and the rest of the backs that may be there in the second round.
For now, those are the receivers that I'm looking at in the Top of the second round.