Silver Minings: Mel Kiper mocks Luke Goedeke to Las Vegas

Everyone and their mother releases a mock draft nowadays, but there are a few analysts whose pretend NFL Drafts carry more weight than others, and Mel Kiper and Todd McShay are a couple of them.

Those two teamed up to release a three-round mock draft where they went through the top 105 picks of the upcoming NFL draft and alternated who made each selection. Kiper ended up picking for the Raiders and sent Central Michigan offensive tackle Luke Goedeke to the desert, and below is the explanation for the selection.

“The Raiders have just one pick in the first three rounds, and they have to find a right tackle to at least compete for the starting job. It’s clear Alex Leatherwood, their first-rounder in 2021, is better at guard. Goedeke started 26 games at right tackle in college.”

The former Chippewa is an impressive run blocker, having posted a 94.3 PFF run-blocking grade last season that was the third-best mark among offensive tackles. Also, he only allowed seven pressures and no sacks in 2021.

However, Goedeke does have a long injury history having missed all of 2020 with a torn ACL and a handful of games this year as well. On top of that, he suffered an injury at the very beginning of the Senior Bowl practices and basically missed the entire week.

As far as rankings go, Goedeke is 125th on NFL Mock Draft Database’s and 166th on The Draft Network’s, so the 86th pick overall might be a little rich for the Central Michigan product. Then again, PFF has him 62nd overall and Kiper is the godfather of the industry and the Raiders could use someone with experience playing right tackle.

In other Raiders’ links:

• Maxx Crosby nominated for PFWA George Halas Award: others to be nominated for the award include Bengals QB Joe Burrow, Eagles OT Lane Johnson, Cowboys QB Dak Prescott, and Washington head coach Ron Rivera.
• Bilal Nichols talks Raiders: “Nichols is thrilled to be a Raider and talked about the move,” writes Sports Illustrated’s Hondo Carpenter.
• This or That 5th round: continuing our series where you get to pick for the Silver and Black, you get four options to decide between for the fifth round.
• Most fortunate Raider on defense: Malcolm Koonce who gets an opportunity to grow as a pass rusher this season, via our Bill Williamson.