The Oakland Raiders will have a big decision on their hands when the NFL draft rolls around later this month and they better not screw it up. The fate of their young quarterback Derek Carr may depend on it.
Now the Raiders have the utmost confidence in Carr's ability but the team acknowledges that they have to surround him with some weapons if he hopes to realize his full potential. That's why a trade for Adrian Peterson is still possible and that's why it is widely assumed that Oakland will select a wide receiver with the fourth overall pick. But should that receiver be West Virginia's Kevin White or Alabama's Amari Cooper? For today, let's tackle the former.
"I think there is a strong chance White could be the pick," ESPN Raiders reporter Bill Williamson wrote. "If USC defensive lineman Leonard Williams is gone in the first three picks and the Raiders prefer White over Alabama receiver Amari Cooper, he will likely be wearing the silver and black."
White has a slightly higher ceiling than Cooper due to his size and athleticism. He stands 6-foot-2 and weighs in at 215 pounds with a 4.35 40-yard dash time. Cooper, on the other hand, is 6-feet and 211 pounds and ran a 4.42 40-yard dash. Those slight differences have given White the edge in explosiveness and upside.
However, White had just one year of above-average production at the NFL level and isn't nearly the route runner that Cooper is.
"There is a faction of NFL scouts who think Cooper will be the better player," Williamson wrote. "Cooper has accomplished more than White in college even though Cooper is younger than White. Some scouts believe that White's small sample size of success and the fact that he played in a spread offense are not true signs he is ready to dominate in the NFL. If the polished Cooper ends up being a top receiver and White fails to become a top-level player as a Raider, it would go down as another big whiff in the team's recent history in the first round."
Raiders fans, which receiver do you think would be better for Derek Carr?
