The 2017 NFL Draft is one that Raiders fans would soon like to forget.
The Raiders selected Gareon Conley at No. 24, a cornerback from Ohio State. And in the second round, they picked Obi Melifonwu from Conninnecut at No. 56.
Neither player made it to Year 3 with the team as they just didn’t pan out with the Raiders. And they are now both out of the league just a few years later?
So who should the Raiders have selected in Round 1? In a recent article by Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report, he re-drafted the entire 2017 NFL Draft. For the Raiders, he gave them another cornerback. This time, it was Shaquill Griffin over Gareon Conley.
Here is why he believes that would have been a better pick for the Raiders:
“Shaquill Griffin didn’t have the best 2021 season in his first year as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars—he allowed almost 70 percent of the passes thrown in his direction to be completed with a passer rating against of 109.5.
But Griffin has demonstrated that he can both hold his own in coverage and that he isn’t afraid of getting his uniform duty. He has topped 60 total tackles three times in five years, has three seasons with at least a dozen passes defensed and earned a Pro Bowl nod following the 2019 season.”
The Conley selection obviously didn’t work out for the Raiders, but Griffin would have given them a solid cornerback to build around. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and it was one of the bigger draft busts of the decade for the Raiders.
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