B-
Las Vegas Raiders
The steal of the weekend belongs to the Raiders and Starks: B-.
by ZOUL ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 5 steals
· 3 reaches
Thirty-one other rooms let Malaki Starks slide, and the Raiders were the ones holding the card at pick 140. Highway robbery.
The cost of the Smith reach is exactly the players who went right after him. They will regret leaving edge rusher for another day if the season turns on it. Cornerback was the priority and it is no longer a question, which is most of the job.
The trenches got the money picks, top to bottom.
Add it up and it is a good, unfussy class.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 3 they get a building block for the line. The biggest hole, addressed.
Tate Ratledge at the 34th pick nudges the ledger their way without any fuss. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Circle this one: Jahdae Barron at Round 3, Pick 1 is a fall that decides a draft. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
Tyler Booker at the 69th overall pick is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Donovan Smith at No. 104 is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Steal is underselling it; Malaki Starks at the Round 5 slot is a heist with the alarm still ringing. Pure best-available; the position was not exactly begging.
They reached into another round for Benjamin Morrison, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They will replay Gunnar Helm at slot 212 for years; that is how good the value is. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Ben Yurosek in the 216th overall pick is early enough to raise a brow, if not a full objection. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
You do not let a running back like Tahj Brooks reach slot 219 and blink. They did not. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.