C
Las Vegas Raiders
A mixed bag for the Raiders, and a C to match.
by Jaybeast17 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 4 steals
· 5 reaches
They will call it conviction in the building and a reach everywhere else: Rodrick Pleasant, 465 picks early at pick 1.
Landing Stukes that late papers over a lot of smaller sins. The interior defensive lineman hole is the one line item this class does not answer. On the needs board they went 7 of 8, with edge rusher the one that mattered most.
If Rodrick Pleasant and a couple of the gambles land, hindsight will be kinder than this grade.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 1 they get a potential shutdown corner, though the board says they badly overpaid. The biggest hole, addressed.
Jeremiyah Love at the 36th pick is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
They reached a country mile for Jude Bowry at the 67th overall pick, and the board is aghast. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Taking Zion Young in pick 117 is close to grand larceny; an edge rusher that good had no business lasting this long. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Tyler Van Dyke at the Round 4 slot is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. It fills a real need, too.
Kaleb Elarms-Orr in pick No. 175 is fair value, right on his grade. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Jamal Haynes this early at the 185th overall pick. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Eric McAlister in pick 208. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They will replay Treydan Stukes at the 219th pick for years; that is how good the value is. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A big swing on Jack Velling at pick No. 252, well ahead of any board in the building. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.