2 pass rushers join big tackle in busy draft day
Settling in behind a microphone Friday night, head coach Jon Gruden summed up the second day of the NFL draft for the Raiders as “a long day, obviously — and a very exciting day.”
The Raiders flitted around the second and third rounds, making three trades and drafting three players: defensive tackle P.J. Hall (Sam Houston State), offensive tackle Brandon Parker (North Carolina A&T) and linebacker/edge rusher Arden Key (LSU).
Oakland traded back in the second round, sending the No. 41 pick to Tennessee for picks No. 57 and 89. They used the 57th on Hall (6-1, 308), who addresses their need for an interior pass rusher. Hall totaled 86.5 tackles for loss and 42 sacks in college — albeit against FCS competition.
“He’s a potential 3-technique, outside shoulder of the guard, that’s a critical part of the defense we’re going to run with Paul Guenther,” Gruden said. “The only thing he isn’t is he’s not tall. But this man is extremely powerful.”
The Raiders then traded up twice in round three, first sending picks No. 75, 152 and 212 to Baltimore for No. 65. They used that pick on Parker (6-7, 309), a three-time All-MEAC firstteam
selection who started every game of his last three college seasons at left tackle.
Parker’s selection followed the Raiders using their firstround pick on UCLA offensive tackle Kolton Miller. The Raiders’ Pro Bowl left tackle, Donald Penn, is returning from foot surgery, while they have an opening at right tackle after
releasing Marshall Newhouse this offseason.
“I’m not going to apologize or be sad about taking two young offensive tackles with the people we’ve got to block in this division,” Gruden said. “We have a quarterback, I think, that’s one hell of a football player, and it’s a priority to protect him. He’s been hurt the last two years. And it bothers me.”
Both Hall (who was not invited to the NFL combine) and Parker come from FCS programs. But the Raiders, Gruden said, were impressed by Parker’s showing at the Senior Bowl against D-I prospects and see both as “finishers — they’re going to get better every day.”
Scheduled to pick at No. 89, the Raiders traded up two spots and sent the No. 217 pick to the Rams in order to land Key (6-6, 265), who might have been gone much earlier if not for character questions.
Key set an LSU single-season record with 12 sacks in 2016. But he took a leave of absence last spring for undisclosed personal reasons. He also had shoulder surgery, put on weight and totaled four sacks in 2017.
“He’s made some mistakes, he’s had some difficult times in his young life,” Gruden said. “He has a lot to prove, we have a lot to prove. But at the end of the third round, we feel it’s a gamble worth taking.”
Gruden said he believes last year’s Raiders team suffered from not having a third edge rusher who could back up Mack and Irvin. Ideally, he said, Key fills that need.
“I go back to the film two years ago, the kid is special,” Gruden said.
Key said on a conference call Friday he believes if talent were the only draft criteria, he would be a “top-five pick. Automatic.”
“I went through some situations that caused me to be a third-round pick,” Key said. “I learned from those things and this is the consequence of me going through what I went through. I’m a better person now than I was prior to it. I’m just happy to be at the right place.”