The Raiders are in the market for a lead running back and Oklahoma’s Joe Mixon is likely to be available when Oakland makes its selection at No. 24 in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday.
Mixon, after all, is a 6-foot-1-inch, 226-pounder who rushed for 1,274 yards and 10 touchdowns in 12 games for the Sooners this past season as a sophomore. Nobody doubts his talents. In fact, one NFL executive told Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he believes Mixon is the best player in the draft (though 11 of 16 executives polled believe Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett is the best).
But many teams have said they won’t draft Mixon, despite his value as a player, because of off-field issues. Mixon was suspended by Oklahoma for the entire 2014 season when he was charged with a misdemeanor for punching a female student in July of that year.
It’s possible, too, that the Raiders could decide to pass on Mixon for those reasons. As Jimmy Durkin of the Bay Area News Group noted last week, team owner Mark Davis has said he has a “zero tolerance policy toward domestic abuse.”
General manager Reggie McKenzie has said Davis’ stance will be important in the selection of any player with violence issues.
“We hold that very dear to what we do as far as what we bring in,” McKenzie said of Davis’ stance.
But the Raiders and McKenzie recently met with Mixon and reportedly were impressed by what they saw in him.
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“We thought he was a good kid,” McKenzie told reporters in a pre-draft news conference. “He came off very well. He explained each and every thing. Every question that we had, he had the explanation. He was up front about everything. The kid really came across as a good kid.”
Mixon was versatile for the Sooners, not only rushing for 2,027 yards over two seasons – he had 753 as a freshman – but had 65 catches for 894 yards and nine touchdowns. If the Raiders were to draft him, Mixon would be the lead back in a talented trio with second-year ballcarriers DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard.
Yet most draft analysts believe teams have enough doubts about his character to bypass him early. He’s projected as a possible second- or third-round pick. It would be a surprise if the Raiders decide to use their first-round selection on Mixon, based on what Davis has said.
Wrote Lance Zierlein of NFL.com about Mixon: “His draft slot will likely be impacted by his domestic violence issue. Mixon has the talent to be an every-down, all-day running back with the potential to take over a game on the ground or through the air.”
