Every team in the NFL has made a handful of mistakes in the draft that have altered their franchise’s history. Unfortunately for the Raiders, they have had a few too many in the last two decades.
Today, we are looking at the three biggest “what-ifs” in draft history for the Raiders. So without further ado, let’s begin!
What if the Raiders selected WR Calvin Johnson over QB Jamarcus Russell?
Heading into the 2007 NFL draft, the Oakland Raiders held the No. 1 selection. In what turned out to be a loaded class, the Raiders narrowed their choices down to two players: LSU’s Jamarcus Russell and Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson.
After a 2-14 season under head coach Art Shell, the Raiders opted to select the quarterback rather than the generational receiver. The team then traded away Randy Moss to the Patriots the following season, leaving their wide receiver corps depleted.
But imagine a world in which the Raiders selected Johnson at No. 1 and held onto Moss. While the team would have needed to add a quarterback in free agency (Matt Schaub and Jeff Garcia were available), having two of the best wide receivers of all time on the same roster would have been incredible.
What if the Raiders didn’t trade for QB Carson Palmer?
After years of struggling at quarterback, the Raiders decided to make the bold move of trading for recently “retired” Carson Palmer from the Cincinnati Bengals during the middle of the 2011 season. Oakland gave away its first-round pick in 2012 and a second-round pick in 2013.
Palmer started nine games that season, throwing 13 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions. After just two seasons, he was moved to Arizona after failing in Oakland.
But what if the Raiders didn’t make this trade and decided to continue to start Jason Campbell? They likely wouldn’t have ended up with a record of 8-8 and would have been in the sweepstakes for Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III. If neither of those players had been available, the Raiders could have chosen from the likes of Luke Kuechly, Fletcher Cox, Melvin Ingram or David DeCastro. The Palmer trade was one of the worst trades in franchise history.
What if the Raiders selected QB Phillip Rivers over LT Robert Gallary?
After the 2003 season, there were plenty of signs that Rich Gannon was done. He started just seven games in the previous season, completing less than 56 percent of his passes. Reserve Rick Mirer started eight games during that season, and he finished that season with a passer rating of 64.8. As a team, the Raiders threw for a total of just nine touchdowns that season.
But instead of drafting the next franchise quarterback, the team opted to pick offensive tackle Robert Gallary. Oakland passed on not one, but two franchise quarterbacks in Phillip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger.
Imagine for a moment the Raiders selecting Rivers and having him torture the Chargers for almost two decades. Considering the Raiders later made the trade for Randy Moss, pairing Rivers and Moss could have been a deadly combination. Instead, the Raiders spent the next decade looking for their next franchise quarterback as Rivers and Roethlisberger will likely be in the Hall of Fame once their careers are over.
