Another gamble: Mo Hurst highlights Raiders’ Day 3 of NFL draft
ALAMEDA, Calif. — Calculated risks will define the Raiders’ 2018 NFL draft.
In the fifth round Saturday, they took one unlike the others.
The team traded up to select former Michigan defensive tackle Mo Hurst Jr. with the No. 140 overall pick. He was considered a first- or second-round talent before a heart issue forced his March exit from the NFL Scouting Combine. That he was available so late in the draft is a testament to the medical concern around the league — and the scale of the Raiders’ gamble.
Coach Jon Gruden spoke to Hurst by phone as the selection was finalized.
“I know it’s been a long day, and the only reason you’re in the fifth round is people have their question mark,” Gruden said in a video the team website published. “But we’ve got no doubts about you. You got me?”
Said Hurst: “Yes, sir.”
Elsewhere in the draft, the Raiders took some gambles.
On Thursday, they traded a third-round pick to acquire Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant. The NFL suspended Bryant for the 2016 season for his latest violation of its substance-abuse policy. He is entering the final season of his contract.
On Friday, they traded up in the third round for former Louisiana State defensive end Arden Key. He widely was regarded a first-round talent, but like Bryant, he has character concerns largely tied to marijuana usage.
Early Saturday, in the fourth round, they drafted a former Wisconsin cornerback, Nick Nelson, who is coming off knee surgery. Later Saturday, in the sixth, they selected a former Washington inside linebacker, Azeem Victor, who was suspended to start the 2017 season reportedly after a failed drug test and to end 2017 following a DUI charge.
The risk attached to Hurst is different.
It’s not marijuana. It’s not a knee. It’s not an arrest.
It’s a heart problem considered serious enough to scare away 31 other teams before the Raiders traded their No. 159 and 185 selections to move up to No. 140. General manager Reggie McKenzie said that Hurst will undergo an annual heart evaluation. Although he’ll sign a four-year contract, the presumption is that Hurst’s ability to compete in the NFL will be determined on a year-to-year basis.
“It’s something he has to go through, however you want to term it,” McKenzie said. “Now that they’ve found out whatever this condition is — I’m not going to get into all the medical terms, all the what-ifs. He’s just going to have to follow a certain deal where he gets checked just so everyone is on the same page and we all know everything.”
For his part, Hurst expressed no concern on his health. He said his heart was “cleared through Harvard and Michigan.”
“I don’t see it being a problem at all,” Hurst said.
Hurst, 22, was a consensus All-American in 2017. He started 13 games while logging 61 tackles, 14½ of which were for a loss, to accompany five sacks, two pass breakups and one forced fumble. According to Pro Football Focus, he had 49 total pressures in 2017, seven more than any other defensive tackle in the country.
The Raiders opened Saturday with the selection of Nelson at No. 110 overall. The fourth-round pick was the first nonlineman the Raiders drafted. In a conference call with reporters, he said he’s two weeks into a six-week recovery timetable for a torn meniscus he suffered during a predraft workout with the Detroit Lions.
Nelson added that he thinks he would have been a first- or second-round pick if not for the injury.
Nelson sat out the 2016 season as a transfer from Hawaii. He promptly led the nation with a school-record 21 pass breakups in 2017 while starting all 14 games. Nelson played some wide receiver in high school, but he had no career interceptions in the 2014 and 2015 seasons at Hawaii and last season at Wisconsin.
Hurst was the first of two fifth-round selections. The Raiders also drafted punter Johnny Townsend as their successor to Marquette King, whom they released in March. Victor in the sixth and former Oklahoma State wide receiver Marcell Ateman, a 6-foot-4-inch target, in the seventh concluded the team’s draft.
Bryant trade aside, the Raiders focused only on the line of scrimmage before Saturday.
They drafted offensive tackle Kolton Miller in the first round, defensive tackle P.J. Hall in the second, and offensive tackle Brandon Parker and Key in the third.
Raiders trade Ward
The Raiders traded defensive lineman Jihad Ward to the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday for slot wide receiver/returner Ryan Switzer. Ward was a 2016 second-round pick who was inactive for 11 games last season as largely a healthy scratch.
Switzer, a 2017 fourth-round pick, returned 29 punts for 256 yards and a touchdown last season. He added 24 kick returns for 600 yards.
He becomes the third former Cowboy reunited with Raiders special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia since March. Linebacker Kyle Wilber and fullback Keith Smith are the others.
Bisaccia coached in Dallas from 2013 to 2017.
More Raiders: Follow all of our Raiders coverage online at reviewjournal.com/Raiders and @NFLinVegas on Twitter.
Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.
Raiders draft class
First round: OT Kolton Miller, UCLA
Second: DT P.J. Hall, Sam Houston St.
Third: OT Brandon Parker, North Carolina A&T
Third: DE Arden Key, LSU
* Third: WR Martavis Bryant
Fourth: CB Kyle Nelson, Wisconsin
Fifth: DT Mo Hurst Jr., Michigan
Fifth: P Johnny Townsend, Florida
Sixth: LB Azeem Victor, Washington
Seventh: WR Marcell Ateman, Oklahoma State
* Veteran acquired from Steelers
