Photo credit: @RAIDERS

By Jeremy Kahn

When the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers flipped coins to see who would draft nine or 10 at the upcoming draft, the Raiders lost the coin toss and were scheduled to pick 10th.

That all changed on Draft Night, as the Raiders traded their pick to the Arizona Cardinals for their pick in the first round at 15, a third and fifth round over the next two days.

With the pick at 15, the Raiders went Kolton Miller, a 6 foot 9 inch, 308-pound offensive lineman out of UCLA.

Miller, who grew up in Roseville, north of Sacramento; however, he was born in Redwood City and graduated from Roseville before heading down south to play for the Bruins.

While at the Combine in Indianapolis, Miller set the broad jump record for offensive lineman, as he jumped 10 feet one inch.

Miller is the second Bruins player in a row to be drafted by the Raiders, as last year, the Raiders drafted defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes.

“He was super stoked,” Miller said. “To be drafted on the same team as Eddie… Him being from Placer, too, just down the road from Roseville, that’s something pretty neat.”

During the draft, the Raiders made a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers, as the Raiders received wide receiver Martavis Bryant, who caught 50 passes for 603 yards and three touchdowns during the 2017 season.

In exchange for Bryant, the Steelers will receive the third round (79thpick), the pick that the Raiders received in the trade with the Cardinals earlier in the draft.

“It’s like drafting a player,” said Reggie McKenzie. “I feel like we drafted Martavis Bryant.”

Bryant missed the 2016 season because of a suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

When it got to the third round, we felt it was something very interesting to us,” said Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert. “We wish Martavis nothing but the best.”

The 26-year old Bryant will enter his last year of his contract, as he joins Amari Cooper and recently signed Jordy Nelson to make a great trio of wide receivers for quarterback Derek Carr.