Biggest post-draft questions still to be answered by the Oakland Raiders:
Who's the middle linebacker? Ben Heeney and Cory James are the only returning players on the roster with heavy middle linebacker experience, and Perry Riley Jr. remains a free agent. His price tag may have gone up, even with the Raiders drafting Wake Forest's Marquel Lee in the fifth round. It's just hard to imagine a fifth-round rookie stepping onto an NFL field and starting right away, even if Lee did play the middle linebacker in a 4-2-5 scheme and had 7.5 sacks with 105 tackles, 20 for a loss, for the Demon Deacons last fall. I asked general manager Reggie McKenzie if the door is closed on free agent Riley. "We'll see," McKenzie said. "That's an ongoing evaluation … if we need to add someone else, we will. No, I never close the door until it's time to get the roster together."
Why two offensive tackles? Why not? Sure, the Raiders already have three Pro Bowlers returning in LT Donald Penn, All-Pro LG Kelechi Osemele and C Rodney Hudson, plus RG Gabe Jackson, RT Austin Howard, free agent signee Marshall Newhouse and extra linemen Vadal Alexander, Denver Kirkland and Jon Feliciano. But drafting Florida's David Sharpe in the fourth round and Alabama State's Jylan Ware in the seventh round provides more than camp bodies because you can never have enough. The massive Ware, who is 6-foot-8 and about 300 pounds, is particularly enticing as a practice squad player.
A football-playing, what? The Raiders used a first-round pick last year on strong safety Karl Joseph and free-agent free safety Reggie Nelson went to the Pro Bowl. Then they used a second-rounder this time on UConn's Obi Melifonwu, who may be the best all-round pick they made this time around. So why take another safety in Washington State's Shalom Luani, a converted soccer player with purported tackling issues but eight interceptions the past two years, in the seventh? "That guy," McKenzie said of Luani, "is a playmaker…he is, as they say down south, a football-playing Jessie. Whatever that means." Research, ahem, shows it to mean he's a darn good football player. So there.
Beast Mode's heir apparent? Yeah, it sounds crazy to say that a seventh-rounder like North Carolina's Elijah Hood will be ready to take Marshawn Lynch's place in a year or two, but Hood's hard-charging running style is similar to the violence shown by Lynch, they have similar bodies and Hood said he modeled his game after Lynch. And I have to admit, I got a little choked up hearing Hood's emotions coming through the phone. "I mean Beast Mode, I just can't wait to be in that running back room with him," Hood said. "He has so much to offer. He's a veteran. The way he conducts business, he's a professional. I feel like I have so many questions I need to ask him and learn from him about the game and NFL and what it takes to be successful. It's just so much to take in. I'm about to be in a room with this guy. He's literally the man who I wanted to become as a running back. I have nothing but blessings upon blessing coming into this situation."
What about Gareon Conley's availability? The first-round cornerback from Ohio State said he will meet with Cleveland police today to discuss the rape allegation he's facing after taking a polygraph test last week. He has maintained his innocence and the Raiders obviously believe him. "I wouldn't put a ceiling on him in terms of, does he end up as the fourth best, the third best, the second best or the best corner?" said coach Jack Del Rio. "That's up to him when he gets here and the work that he puts in, him understanding our system and being a productive player. So, we expect him to come in and compete. We think he's a highly-skilled player and he's got the potential to become one of our better corners." But will Conley be a full participant this offseason -- rookie minicamp is this weekend -- or will he have to stay in Ohio?