Oakland Raiders: Grading every 2018 NFL Draft pick

Grade: A

Now here is a player worth trading up for. The Raiders watched Adren Key begin to slide after teams were scared off by his stint in marijuana rehab during the summer of 2017, and decided to give the young edge rusher an opportunity to redeem himself.

As a result, they end up with one of the most physically gifted pass rushers of the 2018 draft class. He easily has first-round talent, but comes to Oakland at the price of a third-round pick. Giving this selection an “A” was all too easy.

Put simply, Key has elite physical tools, with his ceiling being somewhere in the annual double-digit sacks range. However, he also possesses a sizable amount of boom potential, the likely reason he slid all the way to the third round. With that said, there’s too much talent — especially with the Raiders needing more pass rush moving forward — to leave him on the board at No. 87.

It was a bold move for a Raiders team that’s been no stranger to off-field issues lately — Aldon Smith, Gareon Conley and Daryl Worley come to mind. However, if Key has turned things around and is ready to keep himself out of trouble, he could turn out to be one of the biggest steals of the 2018 NFL Draft.