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Some draftniks don’t like the Raiders’ draft so far. Jon Gruden doesn’t care.

The Raiders new coach defended the team’s draft in a 217-word soliloquy Friday.

“I don’t really hear all the skeptics,” Gruden said, via Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I have a cellphone, too, that works. I got a lot of coaches and friends in the NFL that are ecstatic about the picks that we made. And I apologize to people who don’t like our picks and are skeptical. I also realize we have to prove we did the right thing.

“But I’m not going to apologize or be sad about taking two young offensive tackles with the people we’ve got to block in this division. We’re not playing seven-on-seven here. We don’t get to count steamboats or three-Mississippi before they rush. We need guys who can block, and we addressed that today. And we have a quarterback [Derek Carr], I think, that is one hell of a football player, and it’s a priority to protect him. He’s been hurt the last two years, and it bothers me.”

The Raiders made two trades Thursday and three more Friday. They ended up with Sam Houston State nose tackle P.J. Hall, North Carolina A&T offensive tackle Brandon Parker and LSU defensive end Arden Key on the second day after taking UCLA offensive tackle Kolton Miller in the first round.