Silver Minings: Will Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler use Bill Belichick’s approach to NFL Draft?

Part of the reason Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler got their jobs with the Las Vegas Raiders is because of their connection to Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. Naturally, when trying to predict what the Raiders’ new duo will do during the offseason, many have drawn on what their mentor would do.

For Thursday’s NFL Draft, that could mean a trade — and maybe even several of them — are coming for the Silver and Black.

In an article from ESPN’s Mike Reiss, Reiss points out that the Patriots have made more draft-day trades (83) than any other team in the NFL since 2000. That’s an average of 3.77 trades per year and 19 more than the team in second place, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Las Vegas only holds five draft picks heading into the weekend and won’t make a selection until the third round. So, they’re a prime candidate to either trade up and improve their chances of finding an immediate starter, or trade back and play the lottery with more tickets by acquiring more Day 2 and/or 3 picks.

Ziegler even discussed the possibility of making a draft-day move during his pre-draft press conference last week:

“If there’s a deal to be made that’s going to benefit the Raiders, whether it’s moving up in the draft, whether it’s moving back in the draft, those are always things that we’re going to be open to and entertain if we ultimately think it’s going to be a good decision for us to add a good football player.”

It’s starting to feel like the general manager isn’t done wheeling and dealing this offseason, and we should expect to see some movement on draft day. It’s just a matter of what direction he’s looking to move in. The true Belichickian strategy would be to trade back, but the Raiders really could use a starting right tackle, and the longer they wait the harder that player will be to find.

In other Raiders links:

• Amy Trask receives HOF love: a tweet asking for the Pro Football Hall of Fame to consider the Raiders’ former CEO for the “contributor” category gained some steam this weekend.
• Josh Jacobs hosting 2nd annual youth camp: the camp is open to boys and girls in grades 1-10 and will have the opportunity to learn football skills from Jacobs and other NFL players.
• ESPN sends Matthew Butler to Vegas: the Tennessee defensive tackle had 8.5 tackles for loss and five sacks during his senior season.
• Raiders' worst pick in the last 5 years: Obi Melifonwu, safety from UConn, per Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton.