Behind the Scenes of the Raiders NFL Draft Part Three
HENDERSON, Nev.--Las Vegas Raiders General Manager Dave Ziegler guided the Silver and Black through his second NFL Draft, but the first with a full quiver of picks to shape the franchise's future.
We worked the phones for weeks in preparation for the 2023 NFL Draft, which continued through that weekend, and after as I garnered information from multiple people around the NFL on what happened behind the scenes of this colossal event.
Here is part three of those nuggets of information:
· When day two of the NFL Draft was over, Ziegler got more excited as he perused his board.
· Ziegler knew that his team of scouts and staff, like his right-hand man, Champ Kelly, were great.
· He finally could form a team on his picks and hard work. Ziegler approached building the Raiders scouts and player evaluation side like he would the roster.
· Ziegler knew the support staff was key, and he wasn’t so egotistical as to think it was all him.
· His football team needed playmakers in the defensive secondary. His team of evaluators had done their job.
· He had tried to move back into the first round, but he also had a security blanket that this was a draft with abundant talented defenders.
· But for Ziegler, it wasn’t about defenders. He wanted “Dudes.” He likes his corners and safeties, who are thumpers in the Patrick Graham system.
· Picking at this point in the draft, he knew that the dudes were gone. A dude in the NFL is a player as close to can’t-miss as possible.
· Ziegler had already gotten one of the two dudes in Tyree Wilson, but he wanted guys that he felt could become dudes. There were some out there.
· In his four seasons at John Carroll University, Ziegler was a three-time All-American as a special teams returner.
· Not the most talented guy; Ziegler still loved the game. He attacked defenders while garnering All-American honors year after year, and while he never played in the NFL, he knew what being great looked like.
· He didn’t have the speed to play in the league, but he had heart. Ziegler had watched hundreds of players in his career who had all of the God-given intangibles, things that he didn’t, but they didn’t love the game.
· One of his friends told me: “Dave loves the game, he reveres the game. He was never afraid of losing his job, he just didn’t want to lose the game. I think that is why he wasn’t afraid to disagree with Bill (Belichick) because he loved the game to much to be a yes man. Bill respected him for that. Fire him? OK, he would go back to coaching and teaching. Outside of his family, football is everything.”
· One NFL Executive told me: “I think it pisses Dave off to see guys that have the things he didn’t, yet they don’t love the game. That is why he is always advocating for the guys that love it.”
· The executive added: “I think the one thing Dave values over everything is that he loved the game. He still does, and he will search under rocks for guys that maybe don’t have the things others look for, but he watches voluminous amounts of tape. F**k the things that don’t matter, does this guy love football and play like it?”
· Yet another NFL person told me: “I remember when Dave started to see what made Tom Brady great, he loved him. You can point out every reason why Tom Brady can’t play in the NFL. It is why the GOAT of QBs fell to the sixth round. There is a lot he doesn’t have, but he loves the game, and his heart, his refuse to lose mentality is Dave.”
· One scout told me: “When Dave got to see Maxx Crosby practice, he instantly fell in love. He saw a guy who loved the game of football as much as him. He doesn’t like Maxx, he loves him, and he respects him.”
· That is why Ziegler drafts differently. He knows that NFL players make millions; he wants the guys still playing in a beer league, even if they weren’t getting paid.
· Someone who worked with Ziegler in New England told me: “I think Dave has a different perspective than anyone. He didn’t have and NIL deal, or play in the NFL. He played, and excelled at a place where you had to pay to play. He didn’t have a lot of respect for people that didn’t love the game.”
· John Carroll University isn’t known throughout America. But in the Midwest, it is known as the Division Three place where tough players go.
· Football is a god in Ohio, and the best school go to is Ohio State; some fall to Cincinnati, and others to MAC schools and other outposts. But, for the guys that can’t play at the other levels but still love it, there is John Carroll.
· The guys who dream of football, study football, and hold it close to their heart, one Ohioan said: “God gave them folks John Carroll.”
· The education is exceptional, and the football is tough.
· Michael Jordan was famous for always wearing his UNC shorts under his game shorts. He loved UNC, and he kept it close to him.
· Ziegler is that way with John Carroll. He knows he gets to pick athletes with God-given gifts that would send them to the biggest schools. He isn’t recruiting JCU. But he knows some players play at the biggest places with a John Carroll mindset.
· When all things are equal, he asks if they love the game and play like he did at JCU.
· Raider Nation hasn’t had a chance to see that, but it is developing.
· It made Dylan Parham of Memphis stand out in 2022 for the young man about to become his next pick.
· When day two ended, Ziegler saw a name on the board that he loved. It was a youngster with a second-round evaluation, and yet here, in the fourth round, he was still there.
· Teams making mistakes had aided his slide, but Ziegler saw some things in him.
· Ziegler’s staff had looked long and hard at conrerback Deonte Banks. He was a very good player, but what stuck out was his Maryland teammate in, Jakorian Bennett. Every time they scouted Banks, Bennett stuck out.
· Thanks to his scouting staff, Ziegler teams had Intel on Bennett. Like Ziegler, he loved the game.
· He would stay late at practice, show up early, he battled his own teammates for reps.
· Bennett had skills that JCU and Ziegler could only dream of, but he had the most important thing those players crave: heart.
· He is aggressive. One scout told me: “Some CBs anticipate contact and avoid it. Bennett craves it. He has a chip on his shoulder. That kid is a beast.”
· One longtime NFL Scout told me: “Bennett plays with speed like you want your corners to, but he has a toughness like Matt Millen.”
· Ziegler craved that in his defensive backfield.
· The Raiders' creation of turnovers had been abysmal in 2022.
· Ziegler wanted defensive backs that opposing wide receivers, running backs, and tight ends knew that they would get “Popped,” but could also high-point the ball and intercept it.
· One NFL team executive said last year to me: “The Raiders defensive backfield isn’t something your worry about. Yes, they have had good players occasionally, but you don’t fear them. Dave will change that.”
· Ziegler wanted Bennett. He also wanted others, but at this spot, for that value, he knew Bennett’s cost was worth it.
· Before the draft was even close to starting on day three, Ziegler was back hunting. He eventually moved up at a cost that surprised the Raiders and captured the CB out of Maryland.
· That aggression is fine, and the Raiders don’t want him to lose it, but Ziegler and his staff saw his flaws.
· After only one season in the AFC West, they saw what makes quarterback Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs so good.
· He can run full speed at the line of scrimmage, and one inch before it, feet unset, deliver a laser strike down the field.
· One Raiders defender told me once: “Patrick Mahomes isn’t a quarterback; he is a unicorn.”
· Bennett will have a learning curve.
· He isn’t in the Big Ten anymore, where when a quarterback takes off, he can instantly leave his man and aggressively look to put a teeth-rattling hit on.
· If Bennett leaves his guy early, Mahomes will punish him.
· But Ziegler knew that Bennett’s aggression could be tempered. He doesn’t just want a paycheck; he hunts to be great. He’s coachable.
· Bennett will have a learning curve, but he brings all the skills only God can hand out to the desert, with the work ethic to make those only he can develop great.
· Was he Devon Witherspoon? No, but he had the potential to be, and with the second-round grade and capturing him at pick 104 in the fourth round, Ziegler again celebrated Christmas in April.
· As the NFL scouting took place, the Raiders learned, as did most of the NFL, that the 2023 NFL Draft didn’t have one “Dude” at quarterback.
· Bryce Young was the closest, and besides height, there was nothing not to like about him. Like Ziegler, Young played with an edge. He didn’t play football; he lived it.
· The Raiders knew they never had a shot at him. So while they were evaluating quarterbacks, they liked several.
· Josh McDaniels isn’t looking for a quarterback to run first. He isn’t against a QB who can run, but rarely are there running quarterbackss, who revert to is only when all else is broken. There were two in this draft, Bryce Young and Hendon Hooker.
· Know that Young was a fantasy at seven, and no chance at five (the farthest the Raiders would move) they liked Hooker.
· In fact, many around the NFL thought that if Hooker had not been injured, he might have rivaled Bryce Young for the number one quarterback spot.
· But as the evaluations commenced around the NFL, there was concern that Hooker was not healing as fast as some had hoped.
· That caused Hooker to drop. The Raiders liked him, but there were several quartervacks they liked. Especially if there were concerns about his health. Like Young, Hooker had zero character concerns; his only hang-up was health.
· One of the quarterbacks they liked, who they had as their fifth-best QB on the board, was Aidan O’Connell.
· After the 2021 season, many projected O’Connell as a first-round to early second-round quarterback prospect in the 2021 NFL Draft.
· O’Connell wanted none of it. He played the game because he loved it. The NFL money could wait. Delivering a championship to the Boilermakers meant everything to him.
· Due to nothing that had to do with him, O’Connell’s 2022 was not as good as his 2021, but the Boilermakers, led by the gritty quarterback, kept winning.
· In November, O’Connell’s oldest brother, Sean, died. It was devastating for the Purdue gunslinger.
· O’Connell persevered. He loved football, his brother loved football, and on the field, he could still feel his brother’s presence.
· For O’Connell, turning down NFL money wasn’t even a second thought. He wanted a championship.
· With Sean’s death and facing the most difficult of times in his young life, football, and faith comforted him.
· Just days after Sean’s death, O’Connell completed 32-of-47 passes for 366 yards against the ferocious Michigan defense.
· The Boilermakers lost, 43-22, but it wasn’t O’Connell’s fault that he didn’t play defense. Some big drops, and an interception due to a teammate running a wrong route decimated the over-matched Boilermakers.
· Against a brutal pass rush attacking him all night, O’Connell’s body took the beating that his heart had, but he showcased toughness that can’t be taught.
· He is smart, tough, loves the game, and is teachable. His accuracy was what McDaniels craved.
· O’Connell had popped on the biggest stage. The Raiders liked O’Connell before 2022, but now they love him.
· Ziegler loved the old-school Raiders' toughness. He wants players that have it. O’Connell wasn’t going to come to Vegas for the nightlife. He would come to play football. He would come trying to win a job he isn’t ready for.
· Because they knew how respected O’Connell had been at the end of 2021, the Raiders didn’t see him available in the fourth round.
· They had anticipated the probability that they would be able to grab Tanner McKee from Stanford.
· They liked him as well, but not like O’Connell.
· Ziegler likes Jimmy Garoppolo, a lot. So does Coach Josh McDaniels. They are convinced he can stay healthy, but they also have an insurance policy in Brian Hoyer, who Bill Belichick once wanted to see go into coaching.
· Adding O’Connell gave them something else. A quarterback has to learn the NFL game, but one who can watch Jimmy, learn from Hoyer, who had masterfully tutored Mac Jones, and watch him develop.
· No one in the organization thinks O’Connell beat out Jimmy to start for the Silver and Black in 2022.
· But no one would be surprised if he doesn’t after some point.
· O’Connell is a terrific backup with starters’ potential. He has all of the tools, all of the skills, and all of the things that Josh McDaniels can’t teach.
· But he has the want to. He fights. His mindset is one like Dave Ziegler had.
· O’Connell doesn’t just play football; he lives it. He plays because he loves it. That is what Ziegler’s Raiders need, and that is what they got.
·Unlike his previous 2023 picks, Ziegler didn’t celebrate as long.
· He was thrilled to get O’Connell, but another player was dropping. In fact, it was one he considered picking at O’Connell’s spot.
· He studied his draft board and knew where he felt players would drop, but this one couldn’t get away.
· He had added Jakorian Bennett, a speedster, and ferocious corner, be he needed a head hunter for safety.
· He needs an explosive playmaker at safety who could cover, blitz, run support, create a fumble, get an interception, and if by some chance you caught the ball, someone who could deliver a pop like a Las Vegas Strip magician who saws people in half.
· One was dropping. Not because of talent but because of others' poor drafting.
· In the NFL, from the time the season ends to the draft, teams often talk themselves out of good players.
· It is called paralysis by analysis. That is not how Ziegler operates.
· In fact, I asked him about it before the draft, and he told me: “It's not necessarily a paralysis by analysis type of thing," Ziegler said. "It's not: ‘Hey, let's watch four more games on this specific player.’ It's more at this point, we have the board in some pockets and there's some groups of players at different parts of the board. So, it might be: ‘Hey, let's take a look at these three players or these four players, dive back into it.’ Let's look at the maybe these specific traits that we're looking for that we maybe had a difference of opinion on and those types of things. So, it's more of, I'd say, a quality control check in a focused manner at this point, rather than just kind of: ‘Hey, let's watch all six games again type of thing.’ That's not really where we're at, at this point. So, we're getting closer, but we'll keep kind of putting in some work here all the way up until we’re ready to go on Thursday.”
· Ziegler is methodical. His methodology was certainly perfected in New England, where he learned a lot. But he also learned things he wouldn’t have done.
· That is what sets him apart. Ziegler is always learning. I was told of him by someone who has known him a long time: “Dave’s best strength is that he isn’t an egomaniac. We all know what we know and believe, but he is also willing to learn if he can do it better. He learned much from Bill, and New England, far more than he could ever express. But, he also learned some things he wouldn’t do.”
· Christopher Smith from Georgia was a player that Ziegler and all the scouts loved.
· He is ferocious. He isn’t the biggest or the fastest, but the tape tells his story. Against the best of competition from every athletic conference, Smith led the Bulldogs to two straight national championships.
· Kirby Smart, like Nick Saban, doesn’t lie to scouts. Kirby didn’t like Smith; he praised and loved him.
· Every chance he had, he sang the praises of his safety.
· Some in the Georgia program even told scouts, “That is the toughest player I have ever seen.”
· The Raiders wanted Smith, but they also had other needs to be addressed before, based on the board.
· When the fourth round started, Ziegler was intrigued he was there.
· The Georgia Bulldog would make the biggest players in the biggest games.
· In practice, he participated like it was the national championship.
· He had all of the qualities that Dave Ziegler wanted in his Raiders. Smith loves the game of football.
· Smith had fought for everything he had and always risen to the top. He was a winner. A headhunting winner. He was a player that Travis Kelce would physically stare down at, but he was also a player who wouldn’t ever think twice to at a full run launch into, within the rules, and pop like a heat-seeking missile.
· He brought an edge. He brought a fight; he brought was Ziegler’s team needed.
· One SEC coach told me for this article, “Smith wasn’t the biggest safety in the SEC, but he sure as hell was the most respected.”
· He brought a Maxx Crosby attitude to the defensive backfield.
· Patrick Graham coached Smith at the Senior Bowl. Graham couldn’t say enough good about Smith.
· Inside the Raiders building, when they are scouting a player who embodies all the attributes, not just the speed, size, length, and other things that are unteachable, but when they have that love for the game, the toughness, the winners’ edge, they call them, “Raiders.”
· They might not draft them all, but all they have to do is look at one another and say: “He’s a Raider,” and the word is out.
· Everyone looked at Smith and said:, “He’s a Raider.” Now he actually is. Christmas came early again for Raider Nation.
· In the first seven picks of the Las Vegas Raiders 2023 NFL Draft, Ziegler had fundamentally changed his roster.
· Ziegler anticipated all of them making the 53-man roster. In less than 48 hours, he had overhauled just over 13 percent of his roster with guys that were “Raiders.”
· Through the first five rounds of the draft, whether they knew it or not, the Raider Nation had been given a great draft.
· They might not have known them all, but they will.
· Clarity had been missing in the Raiders draft room for years.
· One NFL Executive told me: “In previous years, you couldn’t really understand what they were doing. It was like giving someone on the spot a shopping spree and saying buy stuff; you have one hour. Now it is deliberate. Every pick, at least from my vantage point as an opponent, made complete sense. Dave and Josh have brought continuity of purpose and plan. I know you tell me Raider fan isn’t a fan of them, but they should be. A lot to be happy about with this draft.”
· Another said, “In the past you could always count on the Raiders over paying guys way too early, or hell, even taking guys you didn’t even have on your board. Everyone they picked in 2023, we liked, and they were solid.”
· But Ziegler wasn’t done. He still had two rounds left. There were “Raiders” out there, diamonds in the rough, but Ziegler knew he had a staff of diamond hunters and was ready.
Tune in on Thursday for our fourth and final article taking you behind the scenes of the 2023 NFL Draft.
The Raiders' offseason workout schedule is as follows:
OTA Offseason workouts: May 22-23, May 25, May 31-June 2, June 12-15
Mandatory Minicamp: June 6-8
Rookie Minicamp: May 12-14
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