Raiders have done due diligence with Joe Mixon
Will they draft a running back if he doesn’t?
Oakland general manager Reggie McKenzie is waiting for a decision from Lynch, as he is not planning to pay the retired running back more than $3 million per year plus incentives, league sources said.
McKenzie hasn’t shown a willingness to use early round picks on running backs.
Considered by some the best running back in the draft, Mixon may be available when Oakland picks 24th in the second round because he was caught on video punching a woman in 2014.
While Raiders owner Mark Davis has made his stance against domestic violence clear, Mixon’s handlers and the league have been careful to call his incident an “assault” as he and his victim were not in a relationship and were arguing when she pushed him.
McKenzie visited with Mixon twice in March — at his pro day, as he wasn’t invited to the NFL combine, and again at the Raiders’ facility.
The Raiders are tight lipped about pre-draft visits and don’t usually talk about prospects, so they are likely giving fans a chance to wrap their heads around the idea of drafting the player in that video from the restaurant.
“When stuff like this happens, whether it’s domestic violence or drunken driving, whatever issue that comes up, we’ll be prepared to answer questions,” McKenzie said.
On the field, the 6-foot-1, 226-pound Mixon led Oklahoma to two Big 12 championships and most scouts and analysts agree he would be a top-20 draft pick on the football tape alone.
“Without a doubt the best running back in this year’s class,” former Raiders running back and NFL Network analyst Maurice Jones-Drew said.
If Mixon is gone by the time they pick in the second round or the Raiders decide to pass on him, there are plenty of other running backs available.
On average, between six and seven running backs have been drafted in the first three rounds in each of the past five years, but scouts think 11 or 12 will go this year.
Oklahoma’s Samaje Perine (5-foot-11, 233 pounds), who broke Billy Sims’ school rushing record, Texas’ D’Onta Foreman (6-foot, 233 pounds), who is faster than Perine but injury-prone, and Toledo’s Kareem Hunt (5-11, 216), who was a Senior Bowl standout, are all second- or third-round possibilities.
Round 1, 5 p.m. Thursday; Rounds 2-3, 4 p.m. Friday; Rounds 4-7, 9 a.m. Saturday ESPN or ESPN2, NFL Network
Raiders picks (round, overall selection): 1, 24; 2, 56; 3, 88; 4, 130; 5, 168; 6, 208; 7, 242; 7, 244