by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–It’s time for the NFL draft which means speculation galore and the Raiders had the number five pick and there was some thought that the Raiders would try to trade down. That they would try to stockpile some more picks. While they do have their first round pick they still do not have their full compliment of picks in the whole draft they only five or six selections.

For a team that needs a lot of help a few extra picks would help them out, no the Raiders did not trade down they stood pat at number five which was probably smart because this draft was considered to have six blue chip players. At number five the Raiders were considered to get one of them.

Nobody knew who that would be depending on how all of the picks shook out as it stood the Raiders ended up getting offensive linebacker Khalil Mack from Buffalo University and if your wondering what’s the deal with U of Buffalo? I can’t think of a player that came out of there.

There was a good reason for that, they were in division two until less than ten-15 years ago, and even then they were a really bad program until just a few years ago. This is a university that has been working to put itself on the map. It certainly is not one that everybody had heard of outside of upstate New York.

Mack considered the best linebacker in the entire draft and he was a guy who some people thought might go with a number one spot or maybe the number two it just didn’t work out that way. This is a guy whose a three down linebacker and he can play in any scheme whether there’s a four three or three four.

He can rush the passer he can block, he can tackle in the run defense, he can play pass defense. He’s a very good player and hopefully he doesn’t bring back memories of a previous Raider linebacker drafted in the top ten by the name of Rolando McClain.

McClain was a complete and total bust, Mack doesn’t seem like he would be in that category. There is a lot of factors that go into whether a guy would end up being a bust or not. Part of that is whether he gets good coaching,whether he gets good support around him.

Mack seems to be a good kid, playing at Buffalo he certainly got a chip on his shoulder because lets face it if you play at Buffalo you don’t get a lot recognition. When McClain was in college he was at Alabama everybody was singing his praises and he heard it a little too loudly and took advantage of his position.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com