Silver Minings: Raiders fans were pleasantly surprised by 2023 draft

This was fun.

Prior to the 2023 NFL draft, Sportsbookreview.com, polled fans of all 32 NFL teams, asking them for their confidence level of the team being able to draft well this spring. The Raiders’ fans’ confidence level was just 4.12 out of 10.

It was the lowest in the league, which was understandable, considering the team’s recent draft struggles.

Yet, the website polled the same fans after the draft and the Raiders scored a 5.88. It was an increase of 1.76, which was the second highest increase in the league.

So, fans like the work of Raiders’ general manager Dave Ziegler as he scored nine players, headlined by Texas Tech edge rusher Tyree Wilson and Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer. Fans fell good. Time will tell if they end up loving this draft class or not. But it’s a good start.

In other Raiders’ links:

• More Divine love: Third-year linebacker Divine Deablo has been the talk of the Raiders’ mandatory minicamp.
• Brady sends strong message: Tom Brady, who is about to join the Raiders’ ownership team, send a video message to all NFL players, urging them not to bet on the game.
• Core rankings: ESPN ranks each NFL team’s best players.