2010 NFL Draft: Do the Raiders Need a Defensive End?

The Oakland Raiders have many needs, that's the obvious. Some of those needs are left tackle, right guard, and center.

Some of the recent mock drafts that websites put out say that the Raiders' need for a defensive end is big enough that they're willing to use the eight overall pick to draft one.

I'm trying not to get mad, but it's hard not to.

Their only source of this "need" is Al Davis, who has been known for making "wacky" selections come draft time, but can you honestly tell me that he's made many selections that are questionable? The only one that I can think of is the Darrius Heyward-Bey selection, but that could be justified in some ways.

For one, Michael Crabtree did not want to play for us. I mean, if he held out for five weeks into the regular season with the 49ers, whom he "wanted to play with," we could only imagine how long the hold out would have lasted had we drafted him.

Besides last year's selection, what pick was really "out-of-nowhere?" In 2008, we drafted Darren McFadden, only one of the most explosive players to come out of college. I can guarantee that had any of the previous teams needed a running back, he would have been drafted earlier.

Before that, we selected JaMarcus Russell. Russell was battling it out with Brady Quinn to be named the best available quarterback in the draft. Is it such a "bad move" if we took arguably the best quarterback available? I didn't think so.

Because of the fact that those previous picks didn't go onto the Pro Bowl, Davis has been called senile, crazy, and much worse. They say that he's not fit to run a team anymore and come draft time, he will mess something up again, such as drafting a defensive end.

I think it's obvious that we don't need a defensive end. We have two veteran ends that are big and strong: Richard Seymour and Jay Richardson. Supplying the relief are Trevor Scott and Matt Shaughnessy, who combined for 11 sacks last season.

Adding on, none of the defensive ends in this year's draft really amaze me. Jason Pierre-Paul is one of the names that I have seen going to the Raiders. This guy is just another version of Tyson Jackson, a defensive end who wasn't spectacular, but received much hype from the time he declared eligibility to draft time.

Who should the Raiders select then, you might ask? Well, it all depends on how the draft goes, but their draft board should look like this;

1. DT Ndamukong Suh—Nebraska

2. OT Bryan Bulaga—Iowa

3. OT Bruce Campbell—Maryland

4. OT Trent Williams—Oklahoma