B+
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders cashed the board's mistake on Lambert-Smith: B+.
by fredyd ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 4 steals
· 3 reaches
The best pick of the weekend was also the simplest. The Raiders watched KeAndre Lambert-Smith slide 30 picks past his grade and did not hesitate. Solid and sensible more than spectacular: a B+.
They robbed the room blind at the table, and it lifts the grade on its own. They will need Judkins to outplay his draft slot in a hurry to justify it. The edge rusher hole is the one line item this class does not answer.
The Greg Newsome II pickup adds a known quantity to a class of unknowns.
A workmanlike haul that should hold up just fine.
Pick-by-Pick
They paid sticker price for Tetairoa McMillan in the 8th pick, and that is fine. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Quinshon Judkins in pick 37 is a bet on their own eyes over everyone else's grade. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A big swing on Jalen Milroe at the Round 3 slot, well ahead of any board in the building. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A quiet steal in No. 107: Kevin Winston Jr. for less than the market said. A minor need, but a need all the same.
Circle this one: Joshua Farmer at slot 144 is a fall that decides a draft. The roster fit checks out.
They robbed the room for Dorian Strong here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A straight-up fair deal on Jamon Dumas-Johnson at Round 6, Pick 36, value and slot in agreement. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
They barely believed it either: KeAndre Lambert-Smith still on the board at the 218th overall pick. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Torricelli Simpkins III this early at slot 224. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.