Raiders on lookout for ‘make-it’ grade players

The Raiders filled two immediate needs over the first two days of the NFL draft. They bolstered their defense with three straight selections on that side of the ball between rounds two and three on Friday.

As they look ahead to the final three rounds on Saturday, they will look to create depth and special teams help.

The Raiders used their fourth-round pick (No. 121 ) on Friday to move up five spots in the second round to select TCU safety Trevon Moehrig, leaving them with picks No. 162 and 167 in the fifth round, No. 200 in the sixth and No. 230 in the seventh.

The Raiders could continue to address a defense that gave up the third-most points in the NFL, much like they did on Friday, although a developmental offensive lineman and wide receiver is not out of the question either.

Among the best players still on the board are LSU LB Jabril Cox, Pitt DE Rashad Weaver, USC DT Jay Tufele, Cincinnati OT James Hudson, Tennessee OG Trey Smith and Ohio State CB Shaun Wade.

Regardless, the Raiders are focused on finding players the rest of the way that they believe have a chance to make their 53-man roster, including those chosen in the seventh round.

“We have what we call a make-it grade, a certain number grade where you can’t give that guy that particular grade unless you think he makes our team.” said Raiders general manager Mike Mayock. “And we think we ought to be getting make-it grade players in the seventh round. And that’s hard. But we believe it.”

In the fifth round, they could be zeroing in on Notre Dame edge rusher Ade Ogundeji and Texas LB Buddy Johnson.

In the seventh round, names to keep an eye on are Texas A&M OT Dan Moore Jr., Notre Dame QB Ian Book, LSU DT Tyler Shelvin and San Diego State CB Darren Hall.

“In addition to having a make-it grade, it’s one less guy you gotta go out in undrafted free agency and go guarantee money to with 32 teams chasing the same pool of players,” Mayock said.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.