Raiders NFL Draft Prospect: Smoke Monday, Auburn Tigers

Smoke Monday of the Auburn Tigers can be one of those special players who comes out in the late rounds for the Las Vegas Raiders in the NFL Draft.

In the last couple of years, the Las Vegas Raiders have had better luck drafting defensive players in the later rounds of the NFL Draft.

While this year’s draft class is loaded with plenty of talent defensively, the Raiders could opt to draft defense in the later rounds once again and one player who can be a wildcard in any team is Smoke Monday of the Auburn Tigers.

The name is not a typo, nor his game.

“(Monday) is a linear athlete that looks to play behind the line of scrimmage or man up tight ends with his size,” NFL Draft Bible said.

The 6-foot-3, 199-pound safety has the size to match up against bigger receivers, and tight ends, and is also capable of coming down the field like a missile to stop the run game.

Monday is the 123rd ranked prospect and eighth-best safety prospect by Pro Football Focus.

Throughout his Auburn career, Monday appeared in 50 games with 24 starts at safety. He totaled 171 career tackles, 68 of them coming in the 2021 season, with 17 for losses and six sacks, eight pass breakups, and five career interceptions -- three of which he returned for touchdowns, two being game-winners.

According to PFF, the Auburn safety allowed six catches in 200 coverage snaps in 2019.

Auburn safety Smoke Monday in 2019:

Coverage Snaps: 200
Catches allowed: 6 pic.twitter.com/XGgBBJIHgg

— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 26, 2020

Monday is a great tackler in space but he can abandon his technique a few times and come in too aggressively, committing targeting penalties.

The Raiders can find him waiting after the third round, and if selected, he can start contributing on special teams right away and potentially expand his role on formations where more defensive backs are needed and/or cover an additional tight end.

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