B+
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders let Gabriel fall and pounced. Final grade: B+.
by [email protected] ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 12 picks
· 8 steals
· 0 reaches
Call it larceny. Dillon Gabriel sat on the board until the 213th pick, and the Raiders did not need to be asked twice. They moved the roster forward and banked a B+ for it.
That cornerback hole did not close this weekend, and it was the biggest one on the wall. The trade work was a quiet net positive.
The Caelen Carson pickup adds a known quantity to a class of unknowns. They left with edge rusher solved and the rest of the wish list mostly ticked off.
All told, a solid class that does its job everywhere but cornerback.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 21 they get a plug-and-play piece up front. Exactly the need they had to hit.
In pick 23 they get a home-run threat at receiver at fair value. The biggest hole, addressed.
Shemar Stewart in slot 33 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They paid sticker price for Jihaad Campbell in the 37th pick, and that is fine. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
A tidy bit of business in pick No. 68, where TreVeyon Henderson graded well above the range. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Ashton Gillotte at the Round 4 slot is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
You do not let a safety like Kevin Winston Jr. reach the 124th overall pick and blink. They did not. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
By-the-book stuff, Raheim Sanders at No. 143 squarely in line with his ranking. It fills a real need, too.
Steal is underselling it; Bhayshul Tuten at the Round 6 slot is a heist with the alarm still ringing. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They barely believed it either: Dont'e Thornton Jr. still on the board at pick 198. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They robbed the room for Dillon Gabriel here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
KeAndre Lambert-Smith at the 215th pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.