B+
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders robbed the room for Fortune. Final grade: B+.
by Cuda2183 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 12 picks
· 9 steals
· 1 reaches
This is the pick they will still be bragging about in July: O'Donnell Fortune, the No. 121 name on the board, stolen at No. 172. It nets out to a B+, which feels about right.
The dealing alone would carry a lesser class. If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through edge rusher. They will answer for taking linebacker early while edge rusher, wide receiver and other spots went begging.
Reaching for Higgins left real value on the table behind him.
A tidy weekend of work that should hold up just fine.
Pick-by-Pick
They read the board right and Nick Emmanwori was the payoff at the 37th pick. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
A slide stopped in Round 3, Pick 4, with Demetrius Knight Jr. worth more than the price. A minor need, but a need all the same.
Value with a capital V on Dylan Sampson in slot 73, a genuine coup. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Darien Porter in No. 76 is fair value, right on his grade. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
They paid sticker price for Donovan Jackson in pick No. 82, and that is fine. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Jalen Milroe is a better player than pick 107 suggests; smart patience, rewarded. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A surprising call. With edge rusher, wide receiver and other spots still to address, they spent the 135th overall pick on Smael Mondon Jr., a linebacker they were not short of.
Darius Alexander at the Round 5 slot is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. The roster fit checks out.
A reach on Jay Higgins in Round 5, Pick 31; the board had better options right there. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
Taking O'Donnell Fortune in the 172nd overall pick is close to grand larceny; a cornerback that good had no business lasting this long. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Circle this one: Cody Simon at pick 174 is a fall that decides a draft. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.
A top-tier quarterback at a bargain, Kurtis Rourke in the 182nd pick, plain and simple. A need, and now a little less of one.