Only four left.
The NFL season is winding down, with only the conference championship games remaining. Next Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs will host the New England Patriots at Arrowhead Stadium, while the New Orleans Saints will host the Los Angeles Rams at the Mercedes Benz Superdome. Both matches are primed for high-scoring affairs, and it'll be fun to see who our Super Bowl matchup is this year.
Since there's only four teams that remain – none of which being the Chicago Bears or the Dallas Cowboys – we can finally see where the Raiders are tentatively slated to select in the upcoming 2019 NFL Draft with their three first-round picks.
The team will have the No. 4 pick, No. 24 pick (via trade with the Bears), and the No. 27 pick (via trade with the Cowboys). The Silver and Black possess the fourth overall pick for the fifth time in the team's history, previously selecting defensive tackle Joe Rutgens (1961), defensive back Charles Woodson (1998), running back Darren McFadden (2008), and wide receiver Amari Cooper (2015).
The Bears were bounced in the Wild Card round, and the Cowboys were booted from playoff contention this past weekend against the Rams in the divisional round. The Raiders have had the No. 24 pick five times since 1961, picking cornerback Gareon Conley (2017), quarterback Todd Marinovich (1992), defensive end Bob Buczkowski (1986), defensive back Neal Colzie (1975), and tight end Raymond Chester (1970).
Over the past half century, the Raiders have only held the No. 27 overall pick just once. In 1965, the team selected linebacker Gus Otto, who was named to the Pro Bowl in 1969.
Head Coach Jon Gruden and General Manager Mike Mayock will have plenty of assets at their disposal in the upcoming draft. Now that we know where the Raiders will be picking – that can change if the Raiders front office decides to trade up or down – we can start diving deeper into mock drafts.
Below is a look at the entire draft order currently:
*- indicates playoff team
| Draft Selection | Team |
|---|---|
| 1. | Arizona Cardinals |
| 2. | San Francisco 49ers |
| 3. | New York Jets |
| 4. | Oakland Raiders |
| 5. | Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| 6. | New York Giants |
| 7. | Jacksonville Jaguars |
| 8. | Detroit Lions |
| 9. | Buffalo Bills |
| 10. | Denver Broncos |
| 11. | Cincinnati Bengals |
| 12. | Green Bay Packers |
| 13. | Miami Dolphins |
| 14. | Atlanta Falcons |
| 15. | Washington Redskins |
| 16. | Carolina Panthers |
| 17. | Cleveland Browns |
| 18. | Minnesota Vikings |
| 19. | Tennessee Titans |
| 20. | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| 21. | Seattle Seahawks |
| 22. | Baltimore Ravens |
| 23. | Houston Texans |
| 24. | Oakland Raiders (via Chicago Bears) |
| 25. | Philadelphia Eagles |
| 26 | Indianapolis Colts |
| 27. | Oakland Raiders (via Dallas Cowboys) |
| 28. | Los Angeles Chargers |
| 29. | *New England Patriots |
| 30. | *Los Angeles Rams |
| 31. | *Kansas City Chiefs |
| 32. | *Green Bay Packers (via New Orleans) |
