Raiders draft Trey Taylor, M.J. Devonshire: Best reactions to Round 7 picks

Mike Moraitis

Raiders draft Trey Taylor, M.J. Devonshire: Best reactions to Round 7 picks image

The Las Vegas Raiders have officially completed their 2024 NFL Draft, with the team making a pair of selections in the seventh round in Air Force safety Trey Taylor and Pittsburgh cornerback M.J. Devonshire.

Adding help in the secondary was one of the bigger needs the Raiders had going into the draft, and they did just that with three selections, albeit in the middle to late rounds.

First, they took Mississippi State cornerback Decamerion Richardson in Round 4, and then closed out the draft with the aforementioned two picks.

Here's more on Taylor, per Lance Zierlein of NFL.com:

Taylor is a productive down safety with good size and the type of character teams will want in the locker room. He’s much more effective as a short-zone defender or in split safety alignment from a coverage standpoint. Taylor appears to lack the athletic profile and speed necessary to handle man coverage as a pro. He’s an urgent run defender who works around blockers to make plays near the line, but he’ll also overrun his leverage and end up attempting too many arm tackles. Taylor has enough working in his favor to have a shot at making a roster.

And some info from Zierlein's scouting report on Devonshire:

Devonshire is a cornerback with long arms and impressive ball production. He’s confident in press, allowing his athleticism to trace routes while instincts and agility key his work from zone. Devonshire locates the quarterback and ball flight fairly quickly with his back to the ball. He sits in the pocket of an average route runner and uses his length and reactive quickness to swat throws away. The long speed appears to be average and he picks up his share of flags with excessive grabbing against big targets downfield. A move to nickel is possible, and he has the athletic traits to make it work provided his run-support efforts don’t short-circuit his opportunity. 

Here's how Twitter reacted to the pair of seventh-round picks:

Mike Moraitis

Mike Moraitis Photo

After cutting his teeth with Bleacher Report, Mike Moraitis has covered the Los Angeles Rams and Tennessee Titans for FanSided, and the Titans and New York Giants for USA TODAY Sports Media Group. On top of his duties with Sporting News, Mike is the managing editor and lead writer for Titans Wire.