Star tight end Brock Bowers of Georgia was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders as the 13th overall choice in the 2024 NFL Draft. But it seems like it was a pretty difficult choice.
According to reports, the Raiders were debating between Terrion Arnold, an Alabama cornerback who talked about his draft day experience on the Next Round Live podcast, and Bowers.
Arnold shared a strange anecdote about the Raiders nearly picking him if a coin had landed on the other side while talking about how close the Detroit Lions were to drafting him.
“Actually the Raiders coach, they called me after the draft, they were like, ‘We actually had a coin toss between you and Brock Bowers, it landed on him,'” Arnold said. “I was like, Oh wow.”
Arnold talked about the chat in a very hurried and informal manner, and it’s unclear if the Raiders coach was kidding when he said it to emphasize how close the two players were. But it would be among the most bizarre series of events in draft history if the Raiders had flipped a coin to determine their first-round selection and told the guy they passed on that his future was up to chance.
This season, the Raiders are under new management under general manager Tom Telesco, who was let go by the division rival Los Angeles Chargers in December 2023.
Telesco becomes the new head coach of Antonio Pierce, who replaced Josh McDaniels in the midst of the previous campaign and removed the interim moniker this offseason. David Ziegler, the general manager, lost his job concurrently with McDaniels.
After being elevated from his position as the team’s linebackers coach, Pierce led the group to a 5-4 record, which included victories against the Chargers (63-21) and the eventual Super Bowl winner Kansas City Chiefs (63-21).
The Raiders are prepared to start over following McDaniels’ disastrous stint, especially with Pierce and Telesco leading the way. That’s not exactly a fantastic testament to their new procedure, though, if it’s true that they chose their first-round draft pick at random.
Even though they weren’t sure who to chose, the Raiders selected one of the top weapons in this year’s class when they selected Bowers. The Raiders could have been focused on picking Arnold, who was anticipated to be there at No. 13, and weren’t prepared for Bowers to slide. Still, it’s always preferable for a club to know exactly who they’re selecting, particularly with their first-round choice.
The Raiders already have Michael Mayer at tight end and a variety of weapons in Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers, and Michael Gallup, so they didn’t really need Bowers. But the Raiders brass couldn’t let the opportunity to choose one of the top players available in the draft pass them by, so they seized it.
At least a coin took it for them.
The Raiders’ draft performance deserved to be listed among Newsweek’s first-round losers, and their current procedure only serves to reinforce that opinion.
