Raiders Draft: Building trenches with No. 13 overall pick would be wise

Skill position needs merit looks but taking an offensive or defensive lineman will be big boost

Skill positions be damned. Build the trenches.

There’s a lot of merit to that line of thinking. It’s often said the game of football begins and ends in the trenches. The team that wins the line of scrimmage tends to walk away victorious.

While the skill position needs for the Las Vegas Raiders merits looks, reinforcing the trenches with their first-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft — No. 13 overall — would be a wise move. Taking an offensive or defensive lineman with that premium pick will be a big boost for team reshaping the front lines.

Particularly on offense

So, let’s start there.

New Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh provided a solid take on the importance of the offensive line a week ago at the NFL’s annual league meeting in Orlando last week.

“They’re not relying on any other position group to be good, but yet every other position group relies on the offensive line to be good,” Harbaugh said when his assessment of the offensive line in L.A. “… Building that kind of offensive line is exciting. That group is like a fist. There are five of them playing as one.”

Quarterback is getting a lot of attention at pick No. 13 — rightfully so considering the lack of a concrete answer to if Aidan O’Connell or Gardner Minshew are the long-term solution at that all-important position — adding a young and talented piece to the offensive line under James Cregg’s watchful eye is a worthwhile investment. Just as the Raiders are trying to figure out their quarterback position, the team has a question mark at right tackle. And landing a prospect who can protect the signal caller while becoming an integral piece of Las Vegas’ run game is a sound move.

If the anticipated run on quarterbacks does occur at the top of the draft, a team like the Raiders picking in the double digits can reap the rewards of talented prospects tumbling down the draft boards. As such, a potential plug-and-play offensive tackle can be ripe for the pickings. A prospect like Notre Dame’s Joe Alt — who tends to appear atop many rankings of the position group — may be out of the Raiders reach and gone by the time the Silver & Black are on the clock, but the draft pool has other intriguing talent. (If Alt is there when the Raiders pick, no more than five seconds should go off on the clock before “The Pick Is In” graphic emblazons the draft coverage).

It’s still unclear what kind of scheme Cregg is installing in Las Vegas, he comes from a heavy zone/wide zone background from his learning tree (Tom Cable chief among them). And looking at zone blocking scheme fits, there are a first-round prospects that stand out: Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga, Alabama’s JC Latham, and Washington’s Troy Fautanu. Each have the experience in zone schemes while also having the requisite size. Of the three, Fuaga and Latham started at right tackle for their respective programs.

Fuaga (6-foot-6, 324 pounds) is the type of right tackle that can take advantage of his strength and power to dislodge defenders to open up lanes in a zone-heavy running offense. Latham (6-foot-6, 342 pounds) exhibits similar skillset as a mauler on the right side with a mean streak. While Fautanu (6-foot-4, 317 pounds) displays the movement skills and fast feet required for a zone scheme, albeit not the same pure power the previously mentioned prospects have. Fautanu is also earmarked as a prospect who can move inside at the pro level.

Let’s flip it over to the defensive line.

This is a spot where Las Vegas isn’t necessarily lacking in talent at both the interior and edge. But adding a prospect who can bolster either spot would make the Raiders defense — the team’s strength (shocking, isn’t it?) — even stronger.

Las Vegas did hand Christian Wilkins a lucrative deal in free agency (four years, $110 million) but imagine adding a young relentless defensive tackle to learn under him and fellow veterans John Jenkins and Adam Butler?

That’d be the case if Illinois’ Jer’Zhan Newton and Texas’ Byron Murphy II are available when the Raiders are on the clock.

At 6-foot-2 and 304 pounds, Newton plays whistle to whistle that makes an impact throughout the game — beginning to end. He’s a low center of gravity type that can anchor and move quickly and is a three-down prospect. Murphy, meanwhile, stands 6-foot-1 and 297 pounds is more compact and built like a bowling ball. But he’s got an unending motor and that allows him to be a wrecker by consistently getting into the backfield and attacking quarterbacks and ballcarriers alike.

Edge seems even less concern as Las Vegas boasts one of the best in the business in Maxx Crosby. Then there’s emerging Malcolm Koonce and the seventh overall pick in the 2023 draft Tyree Wilson developing, too.

Yet, in today’s pass-happy NFL, the more pass rushers you have, the better. And adding another weapon allows Raiders defensive boss Patrick Graham to get really creative with his alignments while keeping his rotation of QB hunters fresh.

Prospects like Alabama’s DJ Turner, UCLA’s Laiatu Latu, and Florida State’s Jared Verse might give Las Vegas something to think about if any of the three are available when the team is on the clock.

Latu (6-foot-5, 259 pounds), in particular, is of the same never-ending stamina ilk like Crosby and Wilkins. While he’s best suited as a stand-up rusher, he can put his hand in the dirt and go, and his hand usage blends well with his pass rush toolkit to get after the quarterback or in the backfield to make plays.