The Oakland Raiders used their 2012 NFL draft third round pick during last summer's supplemental draft in order to take Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who decided to leave school early amidst controversy over the receipt of benefits from a used car dealer and Ohio State fan.
Pryor has yet to see the field in a regular season game, and Reggie McKenzie has said that the new coaching staff has yet to evaluate Pryor to see what they think of his future as an NFL quarterback. However, should Pryor not succeed as a quarterback in the NFL, there is also the possibility he could convert to tight end or wide receiver and have a good NFL career.
Despite the promise that Pryor has, it is still nice to see what the Raiders other options would have been had they decided to hang onto the draft pick and use it this year. Typically, a team will begin addressing some of their less important needs in the third round, having addressed their biggest needs in the first two rounds. For the Raiders, there were two guys who I believe would have been interesting options in the third round, wide receiver Mohamed Sanu out of Rutgers and corner back Jamell Fleming out of Oklanhoma.
Mohamed Sanu, WR, Rutgers
The Raiders have a lot of young receivers on their roster already, but most fall into the same category, small bodied speedsters. While Darrius Heyward-Bey is starting to develop into what looks more like a possession receiver, the Raiders could use another bigger possession type of receiver to help on third down.
Jamell Fleming, CB, Oklahoma
Fleming is an undersized corner back with a lot of talent. Plus, though Fleming is a bit undersized, he has the frame to put on some bulk in the weight room.Fleming does what, in my opinion, is the key to being a good corner, he attacks the football. If not for his deficiencies in tackling and shedding blocks in the run game, he likely would have gone higher than the third round.
While the Raiders would have been able to draft a player who would contribute to the team quicker than Terrelle Pryor will, if Pryor turns into the quarterback of the future for the Raiders, there is no question that it was the wiser decision to take him in the supplemental draft.