2013 NFL mock draft: Raiders select Sharrif Floyd

With the third pick in Pride Of Detroit's 2013 NFL mock draft, the Oakland Raiders select Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd. DrewsLions is serving as the Raiders' general manager, and his reasoning for the pick is below.

My first temptation is to make Jeremy Reisman really squirm by taking Eric Fisher, because with Luke Joeckel and Ezekiel Ansah already off the board, this is going to be a tough pick for the Lions if he's gone. In my opinion, Eric Fisher is the best player on my board, too, but as I look over the Raiders roster, I think the tandem of Jared Veldheer and Khalif Barnes is a pretty good one. As GM, I think I am pretty happy with my offensive tackle situation.

Next, I give a fleeting pause to the option of drafting Geno Smith, as my quarterback situation is somewhat unstable. But personally, I am not a fan of Smith this high. I really don't know how the Carson Palmer situation shakes out, but I think there is value with him either in a trade or not. If Palmer ends up with another team, I feel like I really want to see what I have in Terrelle Pryor, who showed a little flash in his opportunities last year. As a backup or competition, I'd look more at a veteran versus drafting a quarterback this year, at least in the higher rounds.

This all makes my pick of Floyd a pretty easy one. He's right there with Fisher at the top of the board, and let's face it, with Pat Sims and Vance Walker as your current starters at defensive tackle, you need to add a good one to the mix. Floyd is a versatile player that could probably play either tackle spot, but he probably will be used best as the three-technique. He's even had a fair amount of time at defensive end if you want to add some scheme that can give multiple looks. He reminds me a lot of Ndamukong Suh in the sense that he doesn't have huge size, but he has a similar frame and his strength is his best attribute. He has a good burst off the ball and knows how to split defenders to get behind the line of scrimmage in a hurry. To me, this was a very easy pick.

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Check out the 2013 Pride Of Detroit Community Mock Draft tracker for a look at all of the picks.