B-
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders answered their biggest question with Mendoza. Grade: B-.
by Hawkeye66 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 2 steals
· 5 reaches
The one hole that towered over the rest is filled. The Raiders spent their marquee pick on Fernando Mendoza, and for the first time in a while there is a real answer at quarterback.
The Zuhn III pick is the one the value grade keeps tripping over. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped edge rusher, which is a strange place to end up. Whatever else happened, they won the night they took McNeil-Warren.
Solid rather than spectacular, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 1 they get a franchise quarterback. A clean fit for the roster.
They did well to land CJ Allen in No. 36, just ahead of his grade. It adds depth where they could use a little.
Emmanuel McNeil-Warren at the 67th pick is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
They went early on Keylan Rutledge in slot 102, and the value did not follow. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A wild overpay on DeMonte Capehart in the Round 4 slot, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Beau Stephens at Round 4, Pick 34 is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Kaleb Elarms-Orr in the 175th overall pick is fair value, right on his grade. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
Aaron Anderson in pick 185 is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Xavier Nwankpa at No. 208 is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
They reached a country mile for Trey Zuhn III at the 219th overall pick, and the board is aghast. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.