GM appears intrigued by Oklahoma’s Mixon
One question only leads to another and another when it comes to the Raiders and the running back position as the NFL draft approaches.
Will Marshawn Lynch come to terms with the Raiders? Will they draft a running back if he doesn’t? Would they go against their past policy, or at least tweak it, and draft Oklahoma’s Joe Mixon?
Oakland general manager Reggie McKenzie is waiting for a decision from Lynch, as he is not planning to pay the retired running back more than $3 million per year plus incentives, league sources said. Lynch isn’t too keen on taking less than half the $9 million he
was due to make in 2017 on his old contract with the Seahawks. (Once Lynch agrees on terms, a trade with Seattle for his rights is considered a formality.)
Which leads to Mixon, who is from Oakley.
McKenzie hasn’t shown a willingness to use early round picks on running backs. None of the Raiders’ top three backs last season — Latavius Murray, DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard — was picked before the fifth round. But Mixon could be hard to pass up.
Considered by some the best running back in the draft, Mixon may be available when Oakland picks 24th in the second round because he was caught on video punching a woman in 2014. He fractured several bones in Amelia Molitor’s face and was suspended for the 2014 season at Oklahoma.
Mixon and Molitor announced Friday that they had reached a settlement and that Mixon had apologized.
“I’m thankful Mia and I were able to talk privately,” Mixon said. “I was able to apologize to her one to one. The way I reacted that night, that’s not me. That’s not the way I was raised. I think she understands that. Talking together helps move us past what happened. I know I have to keep working to be a better person, and this is another step in that direction.”
While Raiders owner Mark Davis has made his stance against domestic violence clear, Mixon’s handlers and the league have been careful to call his incident an “assault” as he and his victim were not in a relationship and were arguing when she pushed him.
That has given Oakland some wiggle room. McKenzie visited with Mixon twice in March — at his pro day, as he wasn’t invited to the NFL combine, and again at the Raiders’ facility. And McKenzie said he came away impressed.
“We thought he was a really good kid. He came off very well and explained each and every thing, the questions that we had,” McKenzie said Friday. “He had an explanation and he was up front about everything. The kid really came across as a good kid.”
The Raiders are tight lipped about pre-draft visits and don’t usually talk about prospects, so they are likely giving fans a chance to wrap their heads around the idea of drafting the player in that video from the restaurant.
“When stuff like this happens, whether it’s domestic violence or drunken driving, whatever issue that comes up, we’ll be prepared to answer questions,” McKenzie said. “We’ll do our research and if we make a decision, we’re going to prepare to have answers for each and every decision that we make.”
On the field, the 6-foot-1, 226-pound Mixon led Oklahoma to two Big 12 championships and most scouts and analysts agree he would be a top-20 draft pick on the football tape alone.
“Without a doubt the best running back in this year’s class,” former Raiders running back and NFL Network analyst Maurice Jones-Drew said. “He’s versatile, a good route runner, accelerates through contact and has great patience.”
Like Lynch, Mixon would be a bigger back to use with the 5-foot-8 Washington and Richard. If Mixon is gone by the time they pick in the second round or the Raiders decide to pass on him, there are plenty of other running backs available. On average, between six and seven running backs have been drafted in the first three rounds in each of the past five years, but scouts think 11 or 12 will go this year.
Oklahoma’s Samaje Perine (5-foot-11, 233 pounds), who broke Billy Sims’ school rushing record, Texas’ D’Onta Foreman (6-foot, 233 pounds), who is faster than Perine but injuryprone, and Toledo’s Kareem Hunt (5-11, 216), who was a Senior Bowl standout, are all second- or third-round possibilities.