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ALAMEDA, Calif. -- ESPN NFL draft analysts Mel Kiper, Jr. and Todd McShay may not agree on much, but when it comes to the Oakland Raiders' draft needs, well ... It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion the Raiders will be heavy on defense come the draft on April 26 and Kiper and McShay concur. Even if they chose different players for the Raiders in the first round of their respective “Grade: A” Insider mock drafts this week, they both addressed Oakland's defense. And they both chose young players. Kiper went with Virginia Tech junior linebacker Tremaine Edmunds at No. 10 overall while McShay selected Ohio State junior cornerback Denzel Ward. The highest pick Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie has utilized on a pure linebacker is the third-rounder he used on Sio Moore in 2013. Jon Gruden, meanwhile, used a second-round pick on Barrett Ruud in 2005 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It would be just another step for Gruden in his journey through the NFL’s brave new world after 10 years in the ESPN Monday Night Football booth: underclassmen dominating the early rounds. As Gruden said at the NFL owners meetings last month, the “polish” on these players is different than in his first go-round. “So when a body of work is incomplete, you’re not quite getting the polished product maybe that we had several years ago,” Gruden said. “Don’t get me wrong now, there’s a lot of talented guys. And you’ve got to adapt to that and you’ve got to fast track some of these guys because you need them to play fast.” And yes, Gruden referenced the youthful Edmunds. “There’s a 19-year-old football player in this draft that’s a hell of a player,” Gruden said. “We’re not going to discriminate against him because he’s 19. You’re the best player and you fit what we’re looking for, we’ll take you. But you also have to be cognizant of what these guys need to get where they need to go. You’ve got to be realistic.”
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