Five of Oakland Raiders last eight first round draft picks no longer in NFL

The Oakland Raiders haven’t had a winning season since 2003 and while there are a handful of reasons for such, one of the glaring issues has been the franchises poor drafting – especially come the first round.

Early Thursday morning, ESPN’s Sportscenter posted a graphic of the last eight (they held no first round selections in 2011 and 2012) Oakland Raiders first round NFL Draft picks with five of those players currently not on an NFL roster.

The first round of the NFL Draft is used to secure your franchise pillars and needless to say, the Raiders have struggled to find a face of the organization since their Super Bowl run in the early 2000’s.

Shockingly, despite the first round failures, the Raiders did put together formidable 8-8 seasons in both the 2010 and 2011 seasons, which is rather impressive given their recent draft history.

Throwing salt in the wound is the amount of All-Pro level players who were picked directly after the Raiders selection which includes Aaron Rodgers, Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and more. Seriously, you could build a Pro Bowl roster off the players listed above.

Hopefully Thursday’s first round will fare much better for Raider Nation as they look to improve off a disappointing 2013.