Raiders 2023 draft: Power of picks

The Las Vegas Raiders currently are power brokers of the April 27-29 NFL draft.

Thanks to the recent Darren Waller trade, Las Vegas currently has 12 picks in the draft. That is the most in the NFL.

Now, most of those picks are on the third day, so their trading power is fairly limited to the latter rounds with those picks. Las Vegas does have four picks in the first three rounds at No. 7, No. 38, No. 70 and No. 100 (which came from the New York Giants in the Waller deal). That’s decent premium-pick power.

Last year, two teams entered the draft with 12 picks, the Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars. Yes, both of them went to the playoffs and one won the Super Bowl.

Coincidence?

Both teams took different approaches to their draft ammo.

Jacksonville turned their 12 picks into seven picks. The Jaguars ended up picking just seven players and their traded three of their sixth-round picks. They used those picks in multiple deals to acquire fourth and fifth round picks.

That’s an approach Las Vegas could take on Day Three. They have three picks in the fifth round and two each in the sixth and seventh rounds.

Kansas City ended up having 10 picks. Their difference was they were pick-heavy early as they picked four times in the pick 62 picks, with two picks each of the first two round. Kansas City excellent production of several rookies, who helped it earn another Lombardi Trophy.

I’d expect the Raiders’ 2023 draft class look more like Jacksonville’s than Kansas City’s in terms of the picking placement because they have so many late-round picks.

But there is no doubt this team has draft value flexibility. Let’s see what they do with it.