ALAMEDA — Were the Raiders’ first draft pick on Day 3 to ever step on the field this season, it would signify the end of their playoff hopes and aspirations.
If more evidence was needed to show that general manager Reggie McKenzie views the draft as a mechanism for building toward the future as much as fortifying the present, it arrived quickly Saturday with the selection of Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook.
In fact, McKenzie did something he has never done in his previous four drafts _ he traded up and lost a draft pick to get someone.