In 2020, the Raiders were scheduled to go to the playoffs. Instead, it was a season full of lessons.
This includes learning how to manage a franchise during a pandemic, as all NFL teams had to do (and still have to do), as we expect COVID-19 to continue to dissipate and vaccines to be implemented.
On Wednesday, Raiders CEO Mike Mayock lamented his philosophy project in 2020, when the pandemic began to take control of society. He mentioned to reporters the general frustration of last year and how he is better prepared this time.
Part of Mayock’s anguish revolved around Lynn Bowden Jr., one of his three picks from the third round a year ago. The Raiders tried to turn the college quarterback and wide receiver into a runner, a bold prospect in any campaign and an idea doomed during a pandemic, Mayock says.
“If you look back and think, should you pick guys who were perhaps a projection from one position to another?” Mayock said. “You know, we participated in the third round and we ended up negotiating in Miami before the seasons started. He was a college slot machine receiver and quarterback and we tried to move him back to running in a pandemic year. And, to be honest with you, I don’t think it was fair to the child. We don’t even see him face to face until the training camp in July “.
The process was not fair to Bowden and did not prove very beneficial to the Raiders, as it turned out.
There were also other possible problems around Bowden. Reports suggested that the Kentucky product enjoyed the Las Vegas lifestyle too much and could have a bad influence on WR Henry Ruggs III, the team’s first-round pick.
Mayock insisted he changed Bowden for reasons on the ground. He sent Bowden to the Dolphins along with a sixth-round pick and received a fourth-round pick in return.
So what did Mayock learn? Well, a lot. He raised additional issues arising from the pandemic, such as this year’s medical assessments, which he said will be completed late and will not be as “finite” as he would like and the lack of live conversations in person.
But its end result in terms of the draft seems to be this: get what you can from the process instead of making it more complicated than it already is, especially during a pandemic.
“Basically, what I’m saying is that I think in a COVID year you have to be agile and you have to learn lessons,” Mayock said. “And you should try to take advantage of the draft as much as you can.”
Mayock needs to equip the squad with talent, especially on defense, and it won’t be easy, as he has fewer draft picks and less room for the salary cap than he had before. In his third draft with Las Vegas, the pressure is on, pandemic or not, to get his team to the playoffs in 2021 and any lessons learned should help.