F
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders let Simon fall and pounced. Final grade: F.
by [email protected] ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 19 picks
· 12 steals
· 3 reaches
If confidence were a draft strategy, the Raiders would have aced it. Shilo Sanders at the 224th overall pick is 52 spots clear of where he belonged.
Whatever else happened, they won the night they took Simon. Overpaying at the table undid a lot of the good work elsewhere.
If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through edge rusher. The Mukuba pick is fine in a vacuum, less so with edge rusher still on the board.
The bill for those future picks comes due whether the class hits or not.
There is no soft landing here: they fought the board and left edge rusher open, and the grade is the bill.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 8 they get a press-man option on the boundary at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
A slide stopped in the Round 2 slot, with Emeka Egbuka worth more than the price. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
They paid sticker price for Tyler Booker in the 39th pick, and that is fine. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Nick Emmanwori at slot 41 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. It adds depth where they could use a little.
They barely believed it either: Omarion Hampton still on the board at pick 57. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
A quiet steal in Round 3, Pick 3: TreVeyon Henderson for less than the market said. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Isaiah Bond slid further than he should have, and No. 68 is lovely value for the wide receiver. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Alfred Collins slipping to the Round 3 slot is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Good price on Donovan Jackson in slot 92, a hair ahead of his grade with no real quibbles. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Jalen Milroe in the 94th overall pick is fair value, right on his grade. It fills a real need, too.
Oronde Gadsden II at pick No. 107 is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
They paid a round early for Terrance Ferguson in the 110th pick, more than the board wanted. A need, and now a little less of one.
A curious use of pick 113. Edge rusher needed the pick; a safety in Andrew Mukuba did not.
Brashard Smith in No. 144 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. The roster fit checks out.
Cody Simon in the 199th pick should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. A minor itch, scratched.
Taking Mitchell Evans in Round 6, Pick 32 is close to grand larceny; a tight end that good had no business lasting this long. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
You do not let a running back like Raheim Sanders reach slot 214 and blink. They did not. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
JJ Pegues at the Round 6 slot is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A wild overpay on Shilo Sanders in the 224th overall pick, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. Insurance at a position that did not really ask for it.