Mike Mayock has learned to trust his gut ahead of draft day

The decisions NFL teams make in the war room on draft night are second-, third- and fourth-guessed for years to come.

Raiders’ general manager Mike Mayock knows he only gets one shot.

It’s a lesson he has quickly learned after two years on the job following a long run as one of those analysts on the outside looking in.

As long as he puts in the work to prepare for draft night and comes to the best decision he can with the available information, he knows that’s all he can do.

“At the end of the day, the best way I feel good about myself is when I know that I feel good about that kid from A-Z,” he said. “And if I make a mistake, it’s for the right reasons.”

The process of coming to that decision isn’t always a smooth one. There are many different voices offering advice leading up to the day and even in those chaotic moments when the team is officially on the clock.

Mayock believes that collaboration is important, but it’s just as vital to stand by a decision once it is finalized by himself and coach Jon Gruden.

“I think I have to stick to my gut after all the information is collected, after everything is in,” he said. “And when you make decisions, you have to take everything into account. You have to take all of the coaches’ opinions, you have to take all the scouts’ opinions. Jon and I sit down and gather and grind it together to come to a consensus.”

Knowledge is power

Mayock has often discussed the difficulty of really getting to know draft prospects the last two years because of all the COVID restrictions in place.

He believes he gets far more information out of sitting down to dinner with a kid than he does from looking at his 40-time on a spreadsheet and chatting over Zoom and getting largely rehearsed answers.

“Information is king in any draft and it’s gotten harder and harder to collect the appropriate information the last two years,” he said. “That’s it in a nutshell. That’s what these last two drafts have been about – collecting the proper information – and there have been different challenges.”

There was also the case of some players who opted out of the college season putting up insane pro day performances, which Mayock said may be hard to trust because they may have been strictly preparing for such drills for months on end while others were learning playbooks and competing in games.

Then there was the delay in gathering complete and accurate medical information on some of the players because of the way that process was structured this year.

In the end, it might be fair to say the focus for this draft would be on top players from brand-name programs who have been scrutinized to the point there are few unknowns heading into the draft.

That’s not necessarily true for Mayock.

“If we feel good about a small-school kid and collecting the information, watching the tape, heck, let’s go,” he said. “Let’s roll.”

Strategy altered?

There is a growing sense the Raiders are intrigued by the possibility of Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons falling to them at No. 17 in the first round.

Parsons is believed to be an elite talent and the consensus top linebacker in the draft class, but there are questions about his maturity based largely on a few incidents early in his collegiate career.

Denver’s trade to acquire quarterback Teddy Bridgewater on Wednesday could complicate the Raiders’ chances of that happening.

The Broncos are less likely to take a quarterback now and do have a need at linebacker. They are certainly one of the teams most often tied to Parsons in the first half of the first round.

Now that Denver is likely to stay at No. 9 and no longer have a glaring need to bring in competition for Drew Lock, there is a chance they select Parsons and take him off the board long before the Raiders’ first selection.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.