The NFL said on Thursday that two former Raiders will represent their old team at the NFL draft in late April, but one announcement made much more sense than the other.
First, the NFL said former Raiders punter, Shane Lechler would tell the world which player Oakland drafted in the third round. But as The Mercury News’ Matt Schneidman stated, that doesn’t add up.
Perhaps the league office is upset with the Raiders for making them wait to set its schedule, due to the club’s late commitment to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum for the 2019 campaign. Regardless, they came up with an excuse. More on that later.
The NFL gave Raiders fans some news they could use after the Lechler announcement, again according to Schneidman.
Woodson was drafted by the Raiders in 1998 and finished his Hall-of-Fame-caliber career with Oakland in 2015. He’s perhaps the most popular former Raider and will be the perfect hype man for the very valuable No. 35 overall choice. Lechler, a fifth-round pick by former team owner Al Davis in 2000, was one of the best at his position in league history.
But Lechler won’t have much to do when the third round kicks off. Here’s what the NFL had to say about that, likely after they noticed their blunder.
That’s a good idea from Schneidman. Though a Lechler boot would only be complete if Woodson could field the punt, much like he did during his Heisman Trophy-winning campaign at Michigan. That would really get the Raider Nation fired up. And it would make the NFL look really smart, unlike this string of announcements Thursday.
