I didn’t necessarily hate the Damon Arnette pick but I did feel that it was a bit of a reach. That can’t be your Khalil Mack pick. General Manager Mike Mayock already came out to the media spewing nonsense. Now he continues to feel the need to defend the Damon Arnette pick. Mostly, because he’s just wrong.
Here’s what Mayock had to say about the Ohio State corner:
“I just look at his tape,” Gruden said to Jerry McDonald of the San Jose Mercury News. “I’ve heard people say, ‘he’s not a first-round pick on our board.’ Well, whose board are we talking about? Then if you’re in to analytics, according to Profootballfocus.com he had the the best QB rating against him of any corner in the draft. I mean, he’s a hell of a player. That’s why I like him. He played at Ohio State. He played big in big games. He’s an excellent tackler, a confident corner. He’s comfortable in bump and run. When we watched him play against good receivers he played good. And he just gives us something we need, something we cherish here. A physical, press confident corner that’s not afraid to hit you.”
Buddy, if your first point of defense is Pro Football Focus, get your head checked. Let’s just be honest about this. Does Mike Mayock really know what he’s doing? It’s still not a great roster. He’s made plenty of mistakes. I’m not sure I trust him here.
Let’s call it for what it is. The Raiders panicked when the Falcons took AJ Terrell because they have some sort of weird fantasy about Clemson players. Then they took Arnette before they wanted to. End of story.
