The Las Vegas Raiders have now had back-to-back years where they draft good and set themselves up for success. Their first-round pick, Ashton Jeanty, is one of the top contenders to win offensive rookie of the year after Brock Bowers, their first-round pick last year, was a finalist for the award.
Their draft class will pave the way in 2025, and set the tone for Pete Carroll's first year as a head coach. This consistency of making the most of their draft picks is something that's only happened recently, as the Raiders have a history of whiffing on their picks.
The cornerstone of their defense, Maxx Crosby, was drafted in the fourth round, but he's an outlier in recent history for Raider Nation. One of the biggest draft busts of all time, not exclusive to the Raiders, was their taking JaMarcus Russell first overall in 2007.
Pro Football Focus put out an article where they redrafted the 2008 draft class with the knowledge of who those players turned out to be, and for the Raiders, they made up for their mistake of taking Russell in the previous draft class by taking Joe Flacco in the 2008 draft.
"Even though the Raiders just drafted JaMarcus Russell first overall the year before, hindsight allows us to know that he failed to live up to lofty expectations. So, Oakland immediately moves on with Super Bowl 47 MVP Joe Flacco. The now-40-year-old is entering his 18th NFL season and owns a very solid 79.1 career PFF passing grade".
Flacco has never suited up for the Silver and Black in his career, but in this redraft, they take him and save themselves three years of nothingness with Russell. Flacco was able to win a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens, which is more than Russell was able to accomplish.
Flacco is still in the league and has shown that he can do just enough to get his teams to the playoffs. The Raiders traded for Geno Smith, and he's a veteran at this point. Perhaps in this altered timeline, Flacco is still on the team. He spent more than a decade with the original team that drafted him, he could've been loyal to Las Vegas in the same way.
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