Former Michigan offensive tackle Taylor Lewan is looking like a candidate to be the Raiders’ first-round draft pick.
Oakland owns the fifth overall pick, and Jerry McDonald of the Oakland Tribune reports that the Raiders like Lewan better than either of the other top offensive tackles in this year’s draft, Greg Robinson of Auburn or Jake Matthews of Texas A&M.
That’s surprising, as most draft analysts view Robinson and Matthews as superior prospects to Lewan. It’s also surprising that we’re even talking about the Raiders using their first-round pick on an offensive tackle, seeing as they’ve already signed left tackle Donald Penn to a two-year, $9.6 million contract and signed right tackle Austin Howard to a five-year, $30 million contract.
But the Raiders are often unconventional, so if their draft board looks different than most teams’ draft boards, that’s par for the course.
Most mock drafts haven’t had Lewan in the Top 5, but ESPN’s Mel Kiper suggested today that the Rams could take Lewan with the second overall pick. So it’s possible that Lewan won’t even be there for the Raiders at No. 5. But if he is, don’t be surprised if the Raiders take him.