Oakland Raiders: Final 7-round 2019 NFL mock draft

The Raiders may opt to trade with a team that plans to move into the back end of the first round for a quarterback, especially if a top signal-caller drops. In this scenario, Mayock and Gruden keep the pick and take a defensive end to address the roster’s biggest need.

The league rescinded Jaylon Ferguson’s NFL Scouting Combine invite because of an incident at a McDonalds during his freshman year at Louisiana Tech, which resulted in a battery conviction. The simple concept of out of sight, out of mind may have hurt his draft stock, but it’s hard to ignore high production over four years on the collegiate level.

Ferguson is the NCAA’s all-time sack leader with 45 in total. Skeptics will point to the level of competition since he played for a Conference USA program and not a powerhouse school in the Big Ten or SEC. Nonetheless, we have to give him credit for his consistency and ability to dominate his peers.

At 6-5, 271 pounds, Ferguson would serve as the Raiders strong-side defensive end. He’s doesn’t have great bend like the more athletic pass-rushers in this class, but the former Bulldog knows how to use his hands to keep offensive linemen away from his body and power to push through burly pass protectors on the perimeter. Ferguson can also set the edge against the run and latch on to ball-carriers who attempt to move laterally after the handoff.

Similar to [P.J.] Hall last year, Ferguson has way too much collegiate production to ignore at a position of need.