Kansas City Chiefs: 2020 NFL Draft crucial for Las Vegas Raiders

By Leigh Oleszczak | Apr 22, 2020

A general view of a video board as the Oakland Raiders pick is announced (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

The Kansas City Chiefs won’t draft until the final pick in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft and the Raiders will have had two selections by then. They’ll try to find players who can help them compete with the Chiefs in the division.

The AFC West has belonged to the Kansas City Chiefs over the past four years, but the Las Vegas Raiders are obviously looking to change that and be at the top of the division themselves. They came close in 2016, finishing with the same record as KC at 12-4, but narrowly missing out on the division title.

Since then, the Raiders have hired Jon Gruden as their head coach, brought in Mike Mayock to run things as their general manager, and they’ve officially made the move to Las Vegas where they’ll be playing in 2020 and for the foreseeable future.

Playing in a new city brings in the added pressure of needing to win right off the bat to get the fan base excited, so expect the Raiders to make some flashy picks in the first round. They currently hold two draft choices, one at pick 12 and the other at pick 19.

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It’s been a pretty common theme that the Raiders are going to grab a receiver with the 12th overall pick and they very well might have their pick of what’s supposedly the best wide receiver draft class maybe ever. They could land a guy like Jerry Jeudy, CeeDee Lamb, or Henry Ruggs III (who ironically – Kansas City has recently been linked to).

Any of the receivers Las Vegas can potentially grab in the first round would definitely make their offense scarier. They could also look to shore up the offensive line, but more than likely they’ll spend one of their first round picks on offense and the other on defense.

This would be a smart strategy because even though keeping up with the Chiefs is necessary, having a defense that can slow down Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, and company is also crucial. As a result, drafting a cornerback would be in the Raiders’ best interest.

The flashiest move they could make would be to trade up and grab Tua Tagovailoa, but they’d have to give up both of their first round picks to do so. If they did this and Tua panned out, him versus Mahomes twice a year for the next 10-15 years would be a lot of fun.

This is a big draft for the Las Vegas Raiders who need to make a splash in their first year in the Sin City. This past season, the Chiefs weren’t challenged by their divisional foes, going 6-0 in the division and rolling to a fourth straight AFC West title.

The Raiders appear to be heading in the right direction, but they have to make these two first round picks count so they can keep up with Kansas City on the field. They had a nice draft under Mayock last year, landing Clelin Ferrell, Josh Jacobs, and Maxx Crosby amongst others. Mayock proved he can fill holes on the roster and it’ll be interesting to see how he does in year two at the helm.

What players could you see the Raiders selecting in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft?

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