Las Vegas Raiders: Recent high picks on the verge of bust status?
The Las Vegas Raiders have a couple of recent high draft choices in danger of the dreaded bust status. What’s the latest out of training camp?
The Las Vegas Raiders have made some head-scratching moves in the NFL Draft in recent years, and unfortunately, some of those head-scratching moves have not worked out as well as the Raiders bullishly hoped.
When Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock made the decision to draft Clelin Ferrell with the fourth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, that decision was met with a ton of criticism from pundits and analysts alike. The Raiders even went so far as to send scouts and personnel away from the facility near the time of the draft to protect the big secret they had about wanting Ferrell that bad.
After drafting Ferrell so high in 2019, everyone was excited to see what the Las Vegas Raiders might do in 2020 and they did not disappoint. With one of their first-round picks in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Raiders made the surprising decision to take Ohio State cornerback Damon Arnette, a player who had certainly been in the first-round discussion but certainly wasn’t closer to the time of the Draft.
Arnette had a terrible workout at the Scouting Combine in 2020, running a 4.56 in the 40-yard dash and grading in the 50th percentile or worse in overall size among defensive backs.
He also had some off-field concerns heading into the draft and he was a 24-year-old rookie.
Needless to say, the Raiders’ selections of Ferrell and Arnette were pretty shocking and they made another shocking selection in 2021 when they used a first-round pick on Alex Leatherwood, whose first-round shine had seemingly worn off over the course of the 2020 season.
Now, there are reports that these two recent first-round picks are running with the backup defense.
Reports out of Raiders camp are saying Damon Arnette and Clelin Ferrell are running with the second team, per @VicTafur and others.
— Austin Gayle (@austingayle_) July 31, 2021
This is not good news for the Las Vegas Raiders at all, especially considering Ferrell was drafted to be the replacement for Khalil Mack, a player Jon Gruden should have never let get away.
A look at the final personnel in the Khalil Mack trade with all of draft picks exchanged now made:
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) April 26, 2020
Bears receive: OLB Khalil Mack, TE Cole Kmet, G Arlington Hambright
Raiders receive: RB Josh Jacobs, CB Damon Arnette, WR Bryan Edwards, a 6th rounder used in Kelechi Osemele deal
Right now, the Khalil Mack trade for the Las Vegas Raiders looks like one of the worst mistakes in franchise history, regardless of where the team has been located.
Hopefully, both Ferrell and Arnette are able to turn things around quickly. The Raiders have players ahead of them who can make significant contributions like free agent Yannick Ngakoue and Maxx Crosby off the edge as well as Trayvon Mullen and veteran Casey Hayward at cornerback.
Still, you want to see a return on that first-round investment, and that’s not happening with Ferrell (6.5 sacks and 18 QB hits in 26 games) or Arnette (2 PBUs, 0 INT in 9 games) who are now in danger of the dreaded “bust” label.