It does not seem that Darius Heyward Bey will ever live up to being the seventh player taken in the 2009 NFL draft. He has improved, cutting down on his drops but that has not equaled a ton more production. The Raiders did land three starters in this draft, but it still feels a little sub standard.
A quick look at teh relevant Raider picks from 2009:
1.Round One (7)- Darius Heyward-Bey WR 2.Round Two (47)- Michael Mitchell S 3.Round Three (71)- Matt Shaughnessy DE 4.Round Four (124)- Louis Murphy WR 5.Round Four (126)- Slade Norris (LB) 6.Round Six (199)- Stryker Sulak DE 7.Round Six (202)- Brandon Myers TE
Safety Michael Mitchell is solid, but does not feel like anything special. Actually the best pick of this bunch might just be DE Matt Shaughnessy who racked up seven sacks in his second NFL season. After a promising rookie campaign WR Louis Murphy improved, but not by enough. Some of that may be due to some shaky QB play by this team, but we can give him a break as he was only a 4th round pick.
In the end I am still way down on this draft class. Let us not forget that one of these players was cut before training camp even started, and there might be a gem or two in there but it really looks like the Riders reached down too far For Bey and that is always going to cast a long shadow on the success of this class.
Related Links:
- Oakland Raiders news and notes
- The Business of the NFL
- Joshua Lobdell.com
