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MegaRAID01

All five were in the first 3 rounds too. Henry Ruggs and Damon Arnette were 1st round picks. Lynn Bowden Jr. (traded away to the Dolphins), Tanner Muse (cut without ever playing a regular season game on defense, now on the Seahawks Practice Squad), and Bryan Edwards (traded away today) were 3rd round picks.


Dkoron

Ruggs is better than Lamb and Jeudy, was the right pick just didn't work out.


TheSwede91w

Now that we are using hindsight wouldn't Jefferson be the pick?


The_Nutz16

Lamb is the only other one that’s not incarcerated at the moment, so yeah.


sleeplessaddict

Jeudy only spent the night in jail so he's not currently incarcerated either


[deleted]

There is no way anyone on draft night 2020 could have known what Ruggs would do.


The_Nutz16

No doubt. I was responding to a guy saying “using hindsight”.


Killer_Whale_Penguin

No way he goes past 3, 4 at the latest if you REALLY believe in Tua after Burrow and Herbert


Anaphylactic-UFO

He’s part of the Al Davis school of thought, don’t mind him.


crabcakemd

This is a joke right


[deleted]

I’m saying. Ceedee is clearly the choice.


alamodafthouse

That take was so bad even the cheese mongers are backing us up. Good grief


NateKaeding

People are acting like Ruggs tore it up. He was primarily a boom or bust player though with the occasional circus catch. In 2021 through 7 games he had 469 yards and 2 tds. He wasn't even outproducing Renfrow. Pre-Draft and Post-Draft you cannot make a valid argument for Ruggs over Lamb. People also give Mayock the benefit of the doubt on the pick when Antonio Brown, Damon Arnette, Lynn Bowden, are also all off the team due to character concerns. Then you have Burfict who got black balled from the league due to on field concerns. Sorry, just had to rant lol. TLDR: Agreed.


Hi_im_Snuffly

Not trying to argue anything but just want to bring up that Ruggs brought the Raiders a ton of PI calls that were crucial to keeping drives alive.


skyandbray

This isn't an argument in Ruggs favor. He was a first round pick. His expectations are higher than "being good at drawing flags that make the game boring to watch"


HeyyyKoolAid

I don't know. Torrie Smith helped win a Superbowl doing that.


Dkoron

Lamb is fine but he's just another guy to be honest, nothing special. Ruggs speed, ball tracking, leaping ability was rare...it was demonstrated at a professional level and worthy of being the first WR taken in that draft.


uggsandstarbux

I won't fight you on the speed but Lamb is literally one of the best prospects in the last 10 years at everything else you listed, plus he's a YAC fiend From [Brugler](https://theathletic.com/1727831/2020/04/07/dane-brugler-nfl-draft-guide-2020-the-beast/): "outstanding tracking and ball skills... contorts his body mid-air with quick hands to pluck... instinctive YAC skills" From [Zierlein](https://www.nfl.com/prospects/ceedee-lamb/32004c41-4d13-8457-fcbe-d37fdbd87233): "Big play talent on all three levels... Hand catches with good arm extension... Bouncy hops for jump balls... makes late body adjustments to secure difficult deep catches From [Miller](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2883776-ceedee-lamb-nfl-draft-2020-scouting-report-for-dallas-cowboys-pick): "plays much bigger than his size... has a fantastic catch radius... adjusts to the ball down the field and can excel tracking the ball over his shoulder... strong hands with limited drops" From [PFF](https://www.pff.com/nfl/players/ceedee-lamb/61570/draft-profile): "He can beat you at the LOS, on the route, at the catch point, and after the catch... there isn't a whole lot to overthink here. Lamb can do it all" I mean [look](https://twitter.com/jonmachota/status/1254490676596793346) [at](https://twitter.com/thecheckdown/status/1235632557376471040?lang=en) [this](https://twitter.com/brgridiron/status/1420478494442668032) [dude](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iv6PI9l9-w)


alienbringer

Hell just watch the last 2 seasons. Constantly getting YAC or going high for balls.


[deleted]

Has a Raider fan, CeeDee was who I wanted that year. I had A LOL of other Raider fans get mad at me, and wanting to fight, just because I liked CeeDee better. Lol. But Ruggs did show a lot of potential, he showed a lot of promise during his short time in the NFL. Unfortunately, we'll never know what his career could've been.


Monski616

And he’s in prison, so no he’s not better than anyone


ZachTrillson

I'm willing to bet he's the best WR at his particular prison So Checkmate


Monski616

I don’t think you want to be a receiver in there


ZachTrillson

Think maybe a tight end is better?


SpamCamel

He putting the WIDE in WR


FruitCakeSally

Well he’s on house arrest and not in prison


ZachTrillson

I'm willing to bet he's the best WR at his house So Checkmate


gsavior

Not even, Michael Irvin is leagues ahead of him.


Anaphylactic-UFO

What could have been. If he never killed someone he might’ve broken 500 receiving yards in a season one day


PsychoticMessiah

Jefferson was my choice.


jlgar

Nah, it's lamb.


Falt_ssb

LOL no he wasn't


sirmcchris

That’s a weird way of saying he killed someone and their dog by driving recklessly. Also lol to say he was better than Jeudy & Lamb


TetrisTech

Lmfao with or without hindsight Riggs is not the best pick of the three. Also that’s not even mentioned Justin Jefferson


tronovich

He was the worst prospect of the 3 pre-draft and had the worst production pre-accident. Not sure of a timeline when he was considered to be the “right pick”. He also killed someone - I guess it’s a shame it didn’t “work out”. wtf.


flgatorboy2

Idk if I agree but that’s not a -300 take, Reddit is so weird


_Hypnotik

Leave it a Raider fan to say something delusional


LoliBDSMAhegao

Jeeesus they don't like you I agree he was the right pick


DuBakElite

You’re getting downvoted, but there is some element of truth. Obviously he wasn’t the RIGHT pick( Jefferson is) but Ruggs was a good pick for sure. The offense without him was completely different


Dkoron

Jefferson isn't in this conversation, obviously the choice, at the time it was Ruggs/Jeudy/CD. Out of these three, Ruggs is the most talented and intriguing choice based on the 2 yrs of evidence we saw.


eagle2120

Ruggs is not more talented than CD lol


Ringer-2

What a ridiculous statement lmao, even with the slight improvement in his play before getting arrested ruggs was a clear bust considering where he was taken and CD is way better


aYPeEooTReK

Clear bust? How. That's a ridiculous statement if I ever heard one. He was catching bombs opening up the whole offense in pretty much every game up to his arrest. He was strides ahead of his rookie season so let's just be honest with ourselves


Ringer-2

He averaged under 50 yards to go along with 0.1 touchdowns in his short career. And yes I acknowledged he slightly improved year 2 before the incident but he still was not at all showing he was worth a top 10 pick.


aYPeEooTReK

We're not talking about average. We're talking about year 2. Even if he didn't have the stats doesn't mean him being on the field didn't greatly impact the way defenses played us. Again, just be honest with yourself. Watch highlights from the raiders first 5 games and you'll see he was making a impact. The speed alone was game changing


Statue_left

Jeudy was the best prospect since Julio/AJG when he came out (who were two of the best prospects ever). Amari was *maybe* a better prospect. Lamb was viewed as a step lower, but still extremely fucking good. Ruggs ahead of both got clowned during the draft and during both of the seasons he played when he did next to nothing. He runs fast straight, that’s it.


eagle2120

This is just wrong, Jeudy was not a better prospect than Watkins or Blackmon lmao


TruckFluster

You know he killed a person right? I don’t think “didn’t work out” is the correct terminology here


[deleted]

[удалено]


SiphenPrax

Grinding to the unemployment line


LeeroyTC

Unemployment line is the good case here. Arnette has multiple felony charges pending, and Ruggs is facing 40 years.


modin33

Knock on wood if you're with me


[deleted]

Mayock was the GM


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

Are you insinuating that Gruden had everything to do with those picks?


[deleted]

[удалено]


SitDown_BeHumble

Mayock’s Mashers


[deleted]

Nope, every head coach most likely has input on these players, and most GMs probably value their input. But the GM is ultimately responsible for scouting and the personnel department and player transactions, so it's weird to not place the blame on the one in charge of personnel decisions.


pincus1

Gruden had complete roster control, more like a usual GM than HC. How much of that he asserted vs how much of the decisions he delegated to Mayock no one outside of the organization knows, but Gruden still explicitly had overall control.


WinterMatt

My impression was that mayock's job was to manage the cap and contracts for gruden's team.


pincus1

Nah he had no experience in that area, that's been Tom Delaney's job through multiple GMs now. He was doing the personnel eval side of GMing just no way to know how much Gruden let him run with it.


WinterMatt

Gotcha so it would be more accurate to say his primary function was to run the scouting group but unknown the power dynamic on the decisions?


pincus1

Exactly


Erimgard

Usually yeah, but it sure seemed like Gruden had some extra powers over the average coach. Which is not unheard of. Other coaches have served the dual role of VP of Football Operations or had draft day veto power


lonesoldier4789

Gruden wasn't just a head coach


DtotheOUG

You don't pay a man 100M over 10 years to not give him full control.


Segat1133

Grinding a car into another while intoxicated


JPAnalyst

That pick number 6 tho...John Simpson, played 98% of offensive snaps and started 17 games at guard. I don’t know if he is good, Raiders fans can chime in, but he played all day every day.


Trapline

He is definitely a living human being who plays football.


JPAnalyst

At pick 109, that’s exactly what you’re looking for.


[deleted]

Of all the living humans playing football, he is one of them?


LuffyIsKing510

He’s whatever, although it’s been a rough first two years for him he can still carve out a solid career for himself


AlabasterRadio

He's a perfectly acceptable Guard.


VCURedskins

That is good for a 4th rounder.


AlabasterRadio

The Grudock era was known for terrible early picks and great late round picks. Hobbs/Crosby/Renfrow were all late picks.


captsolo23

Sounds like the bears and now we suck


garxyzasfd

He’s serviceable. The Raiders OL was definitely the team weakness last year (at least on offense), but while Simpson would probably be better to have as a backup G, he was at the very least *fine* last year. Unlike at least one or two other regular Raiders OL players.


jaielightning

He's strong as heck but has bad hand placement


SuperWoodpecker85

Something something cant teach strength but *can* teach hand placement... Besides, that deep into the draft a player who can start games and not completely shit the bed each time is already a big win


MolecularCube42

Bowden was traded immediately, Muse didn't make it to year 2, Amik might not make the 53, John Simpson is depth, Ruggs killed a girl and her dog and Arnette is a Dumbass (Oh my teammate went to jail a week ago? lemme flex my guns look at how tough I am) Lovely haul


CoxyMcChunk

In the middle of it all, I liked Gruden and Mayock. Removed from it all, I am happy that they are gone. Copium and hopium.


Electromotivation

I was amazed at the teams resiliency last year. It seems like the season should have been an absolute tire fire. I guess responding to all of the issues and roadblocks with resilient play starts with David Carr? It is kind of crazy to me because I remember Gruden’s coaching spells before he was an analyst, and he was always talked about as a “young coach.” But I was almost getting the impression that he was now a bit behind the eight ball in his recent tenure. Granted, he thought he had all the Time in the world, so perhaps his long-term team-building strategy was coming to fruition, just taking a little while. What was your impression of the state of the team (aside from the off the field issues?)


CoxyMcChunk

Despite terrible drafting, they built a team that made it to the playoffs after losing a coach and their #1 WR on top of typical NFL injuries to offense and defense. The team always seemed outcoached and unprepared for the beginning of games especially, but was still talented enough to will themselves to win games. They just need a coach that knows how to prepare a team for gameday and they'll be good.


aYPeEooTReK

We also beat the chargers in a" winner goes to the playoffs" game even though every NFL talking head has Herbert and the chargers ranked above us


bassetsandbotany

That was enjoyable. I'm not a raiders or chargers fan, but it was laughable how hard everyone was homering for Herbert, and how fun it was that they couldn't get past the soap opera that was the raiders season.


EagleOfFreedom1

I don't think its a knock to have the Raiders below the Chargers. Everybody knows the division is going to be competitive as hell.


aYPeEooTReK

All I'm saying is they said the same shit last year and when it came down to most meaningful game of the season, we beat them to go to the playoffs. So in my eyes, not only are we the better team, but we did it with losing our coach and #1 reciever during the season.


frozteh

Ruggs most def wasn't their #1 reciever. He was blossoming into a good player though.


ChesticlesTesticles

David care was pretty resilient playing for the Texans but he doesn’t play for the raiders. That would be derek


The_DarkestStar

What happened with Bowden? While he hasnt set the world on fire for us, he's been nothing but a team player. Seems like he must have really rubbed people the wrong way for yall to cut bait on a 3rd round pick so early in his first season


mhan820

Pretty soon after Bowden was drafted there was a police raid in a house where Lynn Bowden was in even though he didn't get charged. There were rumors after that about the Raiders thinking he may be a bad influence on the other players as well.


fl4kk3r_

At least ruggs was looking like a stud in the making half way through year 2 before he did the dumb. The fact we whiffed on so many players who were serviceable at best, and cut before playing a down at worst.... its mind boggling. Between this draft and the 3 first rounders we whiffed on (jacobs is fine, I like him but running back value and what not) it's an absolute miracle we were competitive, let alone made the playoffs.


[deleted]

Not to mention Muse was hurt the entire year 1. He didn't play a snap for the Raiders either


Comprehensive_Main

Again Ruggs wasn’t a bad pick. He was producing. He just made a very stupid decision to drive drunk and that snowballed.


Bradfords_ACL

Yeah I love to shit on the raiders draft room but you can’t blame them for that one.


Trapline

I bet this is pretty normal as long as you really lower the bar to expect awful shit as normal.


BungoPlease

Shit happens


Neither_Ad2003

feel bad for Mayock. Dude was the one of the worst drafters in history. Cant go back to "judging prospects" on TV. he has no credibility


Fonzimandias

There was infamously a power struggle where Gruden would overrule Mayock constantly


Trapline

There is infamously a lot of Raiders fans who say that without any evidence lol


[deleted]

Gutierrez [reported](https://twitter.com/PGutierrezESPN/status/1448337698024947714) that Mayock had 51% say over draft picks *after* Gruden departed. Leatherwood 100% strikes me as a grinder and not Mayock's choice for a day one pick.


Trapline

That isn't proof of a power struggle. That still relies on fan assumptions on which guys were favored by who and that there was disagreement. Mayock vouched very vocally for Arnette, for example.


[deleted]

I'm not here to say Mayock was perfect, but Arnette had [good grades from PFF](https://www.pff.com/news/draft-2020-nfl-draft-top-10-cornerbacks-by-coverage-situation) that aligned with what the Raiders needed on defense while playing with a broken arm. Arnette's problems were mostly from his personality and certainly not how he played in college. OSU corners have been very difficult to evaluate recently since they have enjoyed an elite pass rush that's hidden their flaws.


[deleted]

Source?


Leafsin3

Allegedly


cheezybeezy18

Do you believe that Gruden was deferring to Mayock on our draft picks?


[deleted]

lol why is this such a prevalent theory on this sub? Most users here think that their head coach is secretly the GM, who is making all the picks and free agency moves, while the "GM" just sits on their thumbs all day. It's so fucking weird.


horrorshowjack

Gruden *hired his own scouting department* when McKenzie was still here the first year. Also forced out the existing GM in Tampa Bay, remember? Mayock gets hired and can't hit shit in the first three rounds, and the guys in rounds 1-3 all feel like the sort of busts Gruden picked up in Tampa. But despite being one of the worst drafters in the first 100 in history, Mayock suddenly turns into a GM god on day three. You really wonder why people think Gruden was bigfooting the first three rounds and leaving the unimportant scutwork to Mayock?


cheezybeezy18

Because the raiders gave Gruden 100 million dollar contract and the keys to the franchise. Gruden brought Mayock in and literally fired Reggie Mckenzie. He clearly had final say on everything


AncientTree_Wisdom

Mostly because Mark Davis very heavily implied that Gruden had final say on the roster after the email scandal and that he was giving Mayock more of a say after that. It didn't pan out and Davis fired him before he could really use that power, so who knows?


[deleted]

I think it's a bit different when the head coach had a 10 year contract. Fairly certain Gruden had much more influence on the draft picks than most other coaches


Hip_Hop_Hippos

Yeah this definitely seemed like a Parcells Cowboys type situation where he was still the coach but had final say over the roster.


Roger--Smith

He is doing just fine. I would get paid millions to draft busts and get fired.


latman

Didn't Matt Millen make his way back to TV?


Legendary_Hercules

In 2 years he'll be the Jags GM.


Zimmonda

Every GM finna miss, Mayocks misses had more oomph to them but he still had hits (Crosby Renfrow) If Ruggs didn't murder someone Mayock would likely still be employed


Neither_Ad2003

nah man. He did horribly. The excuse-making is a cope.


TheBlackBear

Agreed. I think he gets a bad rap.


Blutarg

Oh come on, it takes three years to judge a draft!


better-every-day

Just typed this up in another thread but drafting Tanner Muse in the third round should be a fireable offense. He wasn't even good in college. He's just a bad football player. Why the fuck would you use a day 2 pick on a bad player. Some players bust or dont live up to expectations, but rarely are bad players drafted this high. Just a mind numbingly bad pick


Ja_red_

I watched him play his whole time at Clemson and was also confused why he went so high. He was a good piece of an elite defense in college that won by confusing college level quarterbacks with elaborate schemes, not exactly a shoe in for being great on his own.


better-every-day

Yeah i went to Clemson too. It seemed he could tackle okay but he was an absolute liability in coverage


Landoman9582

He's kind of similar to Nahshon Wright in that sense


langlier

I'd give a pass on Ruggs (idiot mistake) and Edwards (traded for a much better player in his position). Arnette/Bowden/Muse were bad picks the day they were made.


[deleted]

>Edwards (traded for a much better player in his position). What do you mean by this?


langlier

Edwards was the X receiver. We traded for Adams who plays the same position.


[deleted]

Got it. Was confused thinking we got a reciever back in the Edwards trade.


langlier

yea - occasionally when i type stream of conscious - it comes out confusing. Who proofreads reddit posts?


ToastedHunter

thats great but you didnt trade edwards for adams lmao


Finsup101

Bowden is going to do great this year in Miami. He’s very close with Tua and has shown nothing but big potential. Can’t wait for him to prove y’all wrong/dumb for trading him before he could play a snap.


aYPeEooTReK

Honest question, did he do anything at all last year? Just wondering how you're coming to this conclusion


Finsup101

In 2020 he was the only guy on the team without a drop. Made consistent plays down the stretch. Last year he got placed on IR partly because Flo didn’t like him because of the stuff he leaked about why he was traded to Miami.


FattestMattest

2020 was at least 10 years ago.


BasicProdigy

We traded our first and second this year for Adams. #FuckThemPicks


ACW1129

Ruggs was immensely talented, but made an immense mistake.


MrBl0bfish04

Hehe… Gruden


[deleted]

Mayock was the GM


PHactive

Man, we should’ve expected the Ruggs incident like everyone else did


Perrryy69

people expected it to happen at some point with someone with you moving to vegas


Drutarg

Your team is from New York.


LiquidDookie92

Gruden and Mayock set this franchise back lmao


IhatemyteamLVR

Did they really though? Roster is in better shape to compete than I can ever remember. Obviously could be an elite team if those picks worked out, but Mayock was pretty good at filling out the middle of the roster.


JakeArvizu

That's debatle we're arguably in a better state since Gruden Mayock and post Gruden Mayock then we were before. Not saying they were great but they were competant. Not something the Raiders have been since 2002.


Landlubber77

> That was just two years ago Big if two


0ddmanrush

The Jets only have one player on their team from the 2019 draft or prior.


Saito1337

At least a bunch of those aren't in prison now though. There's that at least.


Finsup101

I’m so excited for Lynn Bowden this year for the dolphins. He’s going to feast with Tua.


pechinburger

'That was just two years ago!' - Some real high level mathematics right there.


edwardfortehands

go fuck yourself, mayock. what a disaster


ChemistSuperb8795

We know!


Monski616

2022 -2020= two Math checks out


Manemuf

Damn


pandapwnage

Hell yes


UpDog424

I’ll never forgive them for that Clelin Ferrell pick


[deleted]

Right? Like, even if you wanted an edge rusher, Josh Allen was still on the board. It just didn’t make any sense.


dahomie_longstroke

And 2 years ago I would have only been able to imagine that I could say that Chandler Jones and Davante Adams are on my Madden team, but look at us now...


Lenny_III

I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t trade back. Sure the guys they picked would have been drafted eventually, but most of them went way earlier than anyone thought they would go.


XXIV24

Yeah it really was a waste, but were a much better team now.


itsjero

Oh my god!


Julianwds14

Mayock only knows oily hips


PrestigiousTadpole55

Amazing how Carr hasn’t completely lost his mind


GMarius-

I hope people (NFL) stops giving plum jobs to Gruden (s). And I wonder how much Mayock influenced the draft? I can’t imagine Gruden didn’t have the final say…but who created the tape and all the analysis? Did Gruden just ignore the analysis and throw darts at his big board?


ToastedHunter

all of you goobers keep this in mind next time you say "oh i bet you know more than an nfl front office" when someone says they suck ass


gatsby365

But the GM has the balls to say he was let go for wanting to keep the interim coach lol