Raiders' sins of the Jon Gruden-Mike Mayock catastrophe are fully on display cut day

We will write books about the disaster class of a partnership between former head coach Jon Gruden and former general manager Mike Mayock running the Las Vegas Raiders into the ground. Gruden was ousted midway through the 2021 NFL season after being connected to an offensive and highly inappropriate email thread with disgraced former Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder.

Mayock stuck around for a bit longer but was not part of another former Raiders regime that failed under the watch of Mark Davis. Even though Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler did not even last two years, the Silver and Black are still feeling the aftereffects of yet another regime gone awry for the Raiders. If you want further proof of this, take a gander at who all got released on cut day this year.

Two former Raiders first-round picks in Los Angeles Chargers offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood and New Orleans Saints safety Johnathan Abram were released from their former teams on Tuesday. Leatherwood was the No. 17 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft out of Alabama. He is now looking for his fifth NFL team to latch onto in four seasons. The same thing applies to Abram in the 2019 draft.

Here is Tom Pelissero of The NFL Network reporting that Leatherwood has indeed been released.

And here he was just a few minutes before that saying that Abram was being released from his team.

So many first-round misses are the long lasting legacy of the failed Gruden-Mayock partnership.

Jon Gruden-Mike Mayock Las Vegas Raiders first-rounders cut yet again

Let's be fair. The NFL Draft can be a total crapshoot. Half of the league is undrafted. For every first-round bust there is, there is an undrafted guy who has a lengthy playing career at the highest level. Even the best teams whiff on their picks all the time. It is just the nature of the beast. That being said, some of the picks the Raiders made over the years under Gruden and Mayock were rather strange.

The one the Raiders get raked over the coals the most about is actually taking Clelin Ferrell inside the top five out of Clemson. Like Leatherwood, and to some extent Abram, Ferrell was an excellent college player on a great team. Leatherwood starred at Alabama, while Abram was a great player in his own right in the SEC, first at Georgia before transferring back home to play for Mississippi State.

What hurt Gruden and Mayock more than anything was Gruden's inability to understand how a draft value chart worked. They reached on so many players. Was Mayock coaching this or allowing it to happen? Either way, the Raiders whiffed on an endless number of high-end draft picks. Even the most well-run organizations will go in the tank if that happens repeatedly. The Raiders made it their priority.

Years since they last worked in Las Vegas, Gruden and Mayock are still getting crushed for the picks.