The Raiders made official the signing of veteran cornerback Prince Amukamara on Monday. Perhaps just as noteworthy, the Raiders waived cornerback Nick Nelson to make room on the roster. Waiving Nelson isn’t particularly shocking news, given he failed to make much of an impression each of his first two seasons and was considered a long-shot
Raiders sign CB Prince Amukamara, part ways with third member of Jon Gruden’s 2018 draft class
Steve, that’s the first time that I heard that Gruden didn’t take feedback from Reggie during the 2018 draft. I heard that they both had separate draft boards but the statement that Gruden didn’t involve Reggie at all is surprising.
Nonetheless, there will be more vets jettisoned. Brandon Parker, Key, Ateman and Hall are likely cuts. Brandon Parker is not even a viable back-up and can’t be trusted on the edge in pass blocking. Key has had no impact. Ateman is meh. Hall has done nothing in the defensive interior. You can’t miss on so many picks. That’s what makes losing teams. Hope Miller can continue to hold down the LT spot and Hurst can materialize into a interior disruptor.
Correct. Jon Gruden didn’t want anything to do with Reggie McKenzie being part of his tenure. Mark Davis didn’t want to part ways with his first big hire at the time he was hiring Gruden, so he prevailed upon Gruden to keep McKenzie around for one year. Gruden accepted Davis’ request, provided McKenzie not have any power whatsoever in football-related matters. Gruden functioned as if McKenzie wasn’t even there, simply paying lip service to those who asked about how they got along.
An excellent explanation of why the hiring of Mayock was so important. At least Gruden understood that he and our Raiders needed that addition in the draft room.
Hopefully our most recent drafts prove to be the building blocks that lead us to Super Bowl wins.
Indeed. Gruden whiffed on his own in 2018, Gruden and Mayock hit it out of the park in their first tandem draft in 2019. If they hit it big again with this year’s class, well, then we have our answer as to which system is the better one.
What made Gruden’s first season all the worse was how horrendous he was on his free-agent signings. Go back and look at all the free agents he signed. Nary a one made an impact that season or has since. The poster children for that draft class were Tahir Whitehead, Rashaan Melvin and Leon Hall.
Several guys that Guenther wanted for either starters or quality depth, most failed.
That first year of the G2 era did not go well at all. And the blame is all on Gruden, he has the money and all the power.
Gruden made a ton of weird (questionable) decisions his first year. Not surprised that he and Reggie were not really working together on the draft, but confirmation of it is disappointing. I had high hopes for Arden Key. Not so much so for Parker or Hall.
Yeah, Gruden was hell-bent upon showing that he could succeed on his own and couldn’t get rid of McKenzie fast enough. You might recall an earlier post in which I outlined how Reggie McKenzie made Davis promise that he wasn’t going to hire Gruden before taking the job because he knew what that would have meant for him down the road. Credit McKenzie for knowing what he was talking about in that instance.
I agree that Arden Key has a chance with Rod Marinelli here to light his ass up from the outset. If Marinelli can’t get him over the hump, Key will be gone sooner rather than later. I like his chances, though.
I’ve been sceptical about the long- term deal Mark Davis gave Gruden and this analysis of what happens when Gruden runs the draft would be a confirmation. But:
Enter Mayock, to apply cool, professional assessment of talent to fit a clear vision of what the team should be. Mayock is killing the GM role as a complement to Gruden as Coach, simply because of his ability to evaluate and articulate. The players Mayock picks fell like players who will stick!
Quite happy with Gruden as our HC, as long as we have Mayock on his shoulder.