The Raiders chose not to trade back into the 5th round with their second 4th round selection and instead took a beast of a cornerback in 6’3” 211 cornerback Keith McGill from Utah.
McGill, due to his size, is a press corner in the model of Seattle’s Richard Sherman. He is at his best when he can line up directly across from the receiver and jam the receiver at the line, directing the receiver either towards the safety or towards the sideline, depending on their coverage alignment.
McGill is a great athlete but doesn’t have elite speed and struggles with sudden changes of direction – he had the slowest 3-cone drill of all cornerbacks tested at the Combine. That shows that once he’s going in one direction, he struggles to shift his weight and explode in a different direction.
The Raiders had to get a cornerback for depth, however, and McGill shows potential to be a solid contributor. He has some small off-field issues and he isn’t known to be a hard worker but if he’s surrounded by professionals, he can likely be pushed to work harder and commit himself.
McGill is already 25, having come up through Junior College, so he’s well older than the average draftee.
Barring a trade up, the Raiders do not pick again until the 7th round of the draft, where they have 3 picks, currently.
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