A
Las Vegas Raiders
A passer of the future in Sanders, and a A, for the Raiders.
by Teddybear1980 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 13 picks
· 12 steals
· 0 reaches
The Raiders spent the weekend waiting on one name, and it fell: Josaiah Stewart, the No. 23 name on the board, in pick No. 212. Just about everything broke right, and the A follows.
Everything downstream of Shedeur Sanders depends on Shedeur Sanders, and the building knows it. They robbed the room blind at the table, and it lifts the grade on its own.
That tight end hole did not close this weekend, and it was the biggest one on the wall. The Jacoby Brissett pickup adds a known quantity to a class of unknowns.
Bottom line, they left the weekend a clearly better team, and they earned every bit of it.
Pick-by-Pick
Shedeur Sanders at the 4th pick is right where the board had him, plain and simple. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Circle this one: Ashton Jeanty at No. 33 is a fall that decides a draft. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Abdul Carter at No. 36 is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
A offensive lineman of that caliber at pick No. 67 is the definition of value, full stop. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They will replay Nick Emmanwori at the Round 3 slot for years; that is how good the value is. A minor need, but a need all the same.
Xavier Restrepo in pick 83 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Steal is underselling it; Walter Nolen at slot 103 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They robbed the room for Jahdae Barron here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Tre Harris in Round 6, Pick 4 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A top-tier edge rusher at a bargain, Josaiah Stewart in the 212th overall pick, plain and simple. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Taking Smael Mondon Jr. in the 216th pick is close to grand larceny; a linebacker that good had no business lasting this long. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
You do not let a linebacker like Jihaad Campbell reach the Round 7 slot and blink. They did not. Insurance at a position that did not really ask for it.
Somehow Malachi Moore was still sitting there in pick No. 223, and they pounced on premier safety value. They doubled down on a strength rather than a need.