In 2020, the Raiders planned to go to the playoffs. Instead, it was a season of lessons.
That includes learning how to run a franchise during a pandemic, like any NFL team had to – and still has to – as COVID-19 will hopefully continue to disappear and vaccinations begin to work.
On Wednesday, Raider’s general manager Mike Mayock expressed some regret over his concept philosophy in 2020, when the pandemic first began to take hold of society. He told reporters last year’s overall frustration and how he’s better prepared this time around.
Part of Mayock’s fear revolved around Lynn Bowden Jr., one of his three third-round picks from a year ago. The Raiders sought to turn the college quarterback and wide receiver into a running back, a daring prospect in every campaign and a doomed idea during a pandemic, as Mayock explains.
“If you look back and think, should you pick men who might have been a projection from one position to another?” Mayock said. “You know, we took the third round and traded him to Miami before the seasons started. He was a college slot machine receiver and a quarterback, and we tried to get him to run back into a pandemic year. And to be fair, I don’t think it was fair to the boy. We won’t even see him live until training camp in July. “
The trial was not fair to Bowden, and not very beneficial to the Raiders, it turned out.
There were other potential problems around Bowden as well. Reports suggested that the Kentucky product enjoyed the Las Vegas lifestyle too much and may have had a bad impact on WR Henry Ruggs III, the team’s top pick.
However, Mayock insisted that he trade Bowden for on-the-field reasons. He sent Bowden to the Dolphins along with a sixth round pick and was given a fourth round pick in return.
So what has Mayock learned? Well, a lot. He outlined additional issues arising from the pandemic, such as this year’s medical assessments, which he says will be completed late and not as “finite” as he would like, and a lack of live, face-to-face conversations.
But his conclusion regarding design seems to be this: get what you can out of the process instead of making it more complicated than it already is, especially during a pandemic.
“What I’m really talking about is I think in a COVID year you have to be nimble and learn lessons,” Mayock said. “And you should try to use the design for whatever you can.”
Mayock has to provide the roster of talent, especially in defense, in a hurry, and it won’t be easy as he has fewer preliminary choices and less salary leeway to work with than before. In his third draw with Las Vegas, the pressure is on, pandemic or not, to get his team to the 2021 playoffs, and every lesson should help.