ESPN Radio host suggests Raiders selected wrong player in 2023 NFL Draft

When the Las Vegas Raiders drafted Byron Young in the 2023 NFL Draft, did they select the right one? ESPN Radio host Q Myers is not so sure.

Two Byron Youngs were selected in the 2023 NFL Draft. The Raiders selected Byron Young, a defensive tackle from Alabama with the seventh pick of the third round, No. 70 overall. Seven picks later, the Los Angeles Rams selected Byron Young, a defensive end from Tennessee.

Nearly two years later, Myers thinks the Raiders accidentally chose the wrong player.

“This is just me — I don’t know this for a fact,” Myers said. “I definitely think they selected the wrong one. I think it was just an attention to detail and again, I don’t know this. It could just end up being a funny. But he was selected before Byron Young — with the Rams — and I remember when he was selected, a lot of people said, Wait, are you sure it’s the Alabama one that they’re supposed to be taking? And well, he’s no longer with the Raiders. I’m just saying — throwing it out there.”

There’s potential merit to this theory.

Shortly before the 2023 NFL Draft, Chad Reuter published a mock draft on NFL.com. The Raiders selected their Byron Young a full round before Reuter’s projection, the seventh pick of the fourth round, No. 109 overall. Conversely, he projected the Byron Young the Rams drafted to go No. 64 overall, which was the first pick of the third round in 2023. So, if the Raiders had selected him at No. 70, they would have been getting a slight steal.

Of course, mock drafts aren’t an exact science and they get increasingly tough to rely on the deeper into the drafts they go.

One thing that is for sure. The Rams have had far more success with their Byron Young than the Raiders have had with theirs. Los Angeles’ Young recorded eight sacks in his rookie season and followed that up with 7.5 sacks in 2024. Vegas’ Young played in only six games as a rookie, was waived before the 2024 season began, claimed by the Philadelphia Eagles and has been sidelined with a hamstring injury.

So, even if they did call the correct player, the Raiders likely would be fine with a Byron Young redo if given the opportunity.