The draft analyst who understands Reggie McKenzie

This year when I do my draft preparation, I am going to pay extra attention to NFL.com’s Mike Mayock. This is not because I believe Mayock will be right, although his opinions are very respected in the NFL because of the work he puts in looking at players on film.

No, it’s because of all the analysts out there, Mayock seems to look for similar things to Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie.

Consider this: in 2013, the Raiders surprised everyone when they took DJ Hayden with the 12^th overall pick. Almost everyone. While many had Hayden dropping into the 2^nd or 3^rd round, Mayock’s official top 100 players, which was released the week before the draft, had Hayden as the 14^th overall player in the draft.

Many of you will also remember that Mayock liked eventual Raiders pick Khalil Mack so much that he named him the top player in the 2014 Draft, another time in which he and McKenzie saw eye to eye.

But the mind-meld does not stop there.

In Mayock’s 2013 top 100 prospects:

Mayock had DJ Hayden 14^th overall – Raiders took him 12^th overall
Mayock rated Menelik Watson 31^st overall – Raiders took him 42^nd overall
Mayock listed Sio Moore 64^th overall – Raiders too him 66^th overall

In Mayock’s 2014 top 100 prospects:

Mayock had Khalil Mack as the top player in the Draft – Raiders took him 5^th overall
Mayock ranked Derek Carr as 20^th overall – Raiders took him 36^th overall
Mayock liked Gabe Jackson 71^st overall – Raiders took him 81^st overall
Mayock rated Justin Ellis 89^th overall – Raiders took him 107^th overall
Mayock listed Keith McGill 84^th overall – Raiders took him 116^th overall

In the 2012 Draft, the Raiders’ first pick was 95^th overall and they selected Tony Bergstrom who was not on Mayock’s top 100. Likewise, Mayock did not list Miles Burris, who the Raiders picked 129^th overall.

Clearly the Raiders under McKenzie are of like mind with Mayock as to what makes a good player. When Mayock releases his rankings this year, I will be paying close attention to what he has to say because it likely will give good insight into how the Raiders feel, too.