A-
Las Vegas Raiders
Golday should have been long gone. The Raiders pounced, and earned a A-.
by Dnice ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 18 picks
· 15 steals
· 0 reaches
Thirty-one other rooms let Jake Golday slide, and the Raiders were the ones holding the card at the 97th overall pick. Highway robbery.
They robbed the room blind at the table, and it lifts the grade on its own. The Fitzgerald pick reads as want over need, and the roster will feel it at cornerback. That cornerback hole did not close this weekend, and it was the biggest one on the wall.
In short, they turned a good board into a better roster, and it shows.
Pick-by-Pick
They let Arvell Reese come to them and pounced at pick 18. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Quietly one of the better values of the day, Kenyon Sadiq at the 28th pick. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Olaivavega Ioane is a better player than Round 2, Pick 4 suggests; smart patience, rewarded. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
The board had Peter Woods higher than No. 38, and the interior defensive lineman fell to them anyway. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
They read the board right and Caleb Banks was the payoff at slot 59. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A.J. Haulcy at pick No. 67 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. A minor need, but a need all the same.
Value with a capital V on Jake Slaughter in the Round 3 slot, a genuine coup. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Circle this one: Jake Golday at the 97th overall pick is a fall that decides a draft. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Steal is underselling it; Mike Washington Jr. at pick 102 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
A curious use of slot 134. Cornerback needed the pick; a safety in Bishop Fitzgerald did not.
A reasonable price with a little left over, Drew Allar in No. 163. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
A quiet steal in pick No. 175: Kevin Coleman Jr. for less than the market said. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Aamil Wagner at the 185th overall pick is money in the bank, a offensive lineman taken below his worth. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Bryce Boettcher in the 189th pick. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
Aaron Anderson slipping to Round 6, Pick 15 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A tidy little value on Cole Payton in the Round 6 slot, a step better than break-even. It fills a real need, too.
They robbed the room for VJ Payne here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
Bryson Eason in pick 226 is fine work, a shade of surplus and no downside. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.