The Raiders enter this year's NFL draft without a first-round pick. For now, to paraphrase managing general partner Al Davis.
"Don't say we won't pick (in the first round) in 2011," Davis said in response to a question about trading away the pick for defensive tackle Richard Seymour just before the 2009 season.
History shows that Davis will trade up for a first-round draft pick, especially if there's a player he covets and that player isn't likely to be around when the Raiders pick next.
The Raiders first scheduled selection in this year's three-day, seven-round draft isn't until the middle of the second round, No. 48 overall.
The last time Davis entered a draft without a first-round pick -- he traded the Raiders first-rounder in 2005 to the Minnesota Vikings as part of compensation for wide receiver Randy Moss -- he engineered a trade so that he could move into the tail end of the first round and snag Nebraska cornerback Fabian Washington.
The Raiders company line is that the team's first-round pick this year is on their roster in Seymour. So Davis has no problem with the Patriots having the Raiders first-round pick this year, which is No. 18 overall.
"You may not think it was a good trade," Davis said. "I thought it was a great trade. Still do."
Some feel that Davis paid too steep a price for Seymour, who turns 32 in October and has endured a ton of punishment during his NFL career. However, Seymour earned a Pro Bowl selection last season, and he is credited with making his defensive mates more productive.
"Sometimes you've got to overpay to get what you want," Davis said. "But I didn't overpay (for Seymour). I don't think that's overpaying at all. Sometimes you have to. You don't always win the battle. The idea is to get the player."
Davis has a long history of doing whatever it takes to win immediately. He traded two first-round picks for linebacker Ted Hendricks in 1975, and Hendricks played a pivotal role in the Raiders winning three Super Bowls in an eight-year span. Davis also traded away a first-round pick for cornerback Mike Haynes, who helped the Raiders win the Super Bowl in the 1983 season.
"We gave up a first and a second draft choice, with the idea that we were a great team; he could make us probably the greatest, or one of the greatest teams of all time, which he did," Davis said of Haynes. "We have always made trades. ... You have to do that, in my way of thinking, to be a great organization, and to have great teams."
Coach Hue Jackson said the Raiders are listening to offers from other teams and won't rule out trading up into the first round this year.
"We're throwing everything around," Jackson said. "Were not going to leave any stone unturned. Obviously, we don't have a first-round draft pick, quote-unquote, ... It's a little bit early in the process to know exactly what we're going to do. We're still working through it, still making those decisions."
Raiders: Will they move up to first round? - ContraCostaTimes.com
