A-
Las Vegas Raiders
The steal of the weekend belongs to the Raiders and Ramsey: A-.
by BrianC ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 4 steals
· 3 reaches
The trade table was a mismatch, and the Raiders were on the right end of it, hauling in a fortune in surplus value. The board rewarded a patient, disciplined weekend with a A-.
The Ramsey pick is the one they will point to when this weekend is judged. They are betting Allar proves the room right and everyone else wrong.
A whole weekend of picks and edge rusher is somehow still a want. The Tyler Smith pickup adds a known quantity to a class of unknowns.
The kind of weekend a front office frames and hangs on the wall.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 12 they get a coverage-and-run second-level piece. Need was not the driver here.
In pick No. 20 they get protection for the quarterback at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
Chris Johnson at the 36th pick nudges the ledger their way without any fuss. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Taking Lee Hunter in pick 67 is close to grand larceny; an interior defensive lineman that good had no business lasting this long. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They barely believed it either: Kamari Ramsey still on the board at No. 102. A minor need, but a need all the same.
A reach for Jude Bowry in the Round 4 slot; a little patience would have been rewarded. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Value said wait; Drew Allar in the 134th pick says they were not listening. A need, and now a little less of one.
The board had Marlin Klein higher than slot 175, and the tight end fell to them anyway. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Reggie Virgil at pick No. 185 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They liked Sawyer Robertson enough to skip the value, taking him in the Round 6 slot. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.