Several members of the Raiders organization have shot down Terrion Arnold’s claim that the team flipped a coin to decide on drafting him over tight end Brock Bowers and General Manager Tom Telesco used a little humor while doing so.
Telesco’s denial came after head coach Antonio Pierce and assistant G.M. Champ Kelly dismissed the notion that they were not convinced Bowers was the right guy. Telesco said “there’s not a whole lot of discussion” before making a pick at No. 13 in the first round because the team has run through a number of scenarios leading up to draft night, so there was no need to flip a coin or break out any children’s toys in order to settle a dispute.
“Typically, I use a Magic 8 Ball and not a coin,” Telesco said on NFL Network. “But no, part of that draft process, and we do this really two weeks, we’ll go through all the different scenarios of what could happen in the first round and how we would react to is and discuss it. When you’re picking 13, there aren’t that many scenarios to go through. So obviously we had gone through the scenario of players being gone and Brock Bowers is there, and we discussed in a small group — if that happened like, hey, we’re gonna take Brock. So we had gone through the process.”
The Raiders and many other teams may one day regret passing on Arnold — the cornerback went to the Lions at No. 24 — but it doesn’t sound like there was much discussion going on before they sent the pick into the league.
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
