A-
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders turned the phones into found money: A-.
by SpaceBeast ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 3 steals
· 2 reaches
Give the war room a raise for the dealing alone. The Raiders came out ahead on every exchange that mattered, and it was not close. Add it all up and it grades out a clean A-.
Leaving edge rusher unaddressed is the roster risk they will have to answer for in the fall. Walker falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch.
They will need Tuten to outplay his draft slot in a hurry to justify it.
Bottom line, with Tetairoa McMillan leading the way, this is a class that should pay off fast and rarely be regretted.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 14 they get a true top target at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Jalon Walker in pick No. 37. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Xavier Watts at Round 2, Pick 17 is a sensible buy, a touch better than market for the safety. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
A market-rate cornerback, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Maxwell Hairston. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
By-the-book stuff, Joshua Farmer at the Round 4 slot squarely in line with his ranking. It fills a real need, too.
Bhayshul Tuten in No. 143 is the kind of reach that only looks good if he outplays it. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
No drama and no debate, Damien Martinez went about where he belonged in the 151st pick. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
A straight-up fair deal on Dont'e Thornton Jr. at pick 180, value and slot in agreement. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
The board had Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson higher than No. 213, and the offensive lineman fell to them anyway. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They let Jason Marshall Jr. come to them and pounced at the Round 6 slot. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Isaac TeSlaa at pick 222 jumps the queue by a touch more than is comfortable. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.