C
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders lost the trade table, and the C tells the story.
by [email protected] ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 18 picks
· 8 steals
· 2 reaches
The tape said wait; the Raiders did not. Garrett Dellinger went at the 214th overall pick, a good 83 picks before the board was ready. A mixed bag that lands at C.
However the rest shakes out, McMillan at that price is a win they earned. The trade table is where this weekend went wrong. If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through edge rusher.
It is not that Winston Jr. is a bad player; it is that the Raiders had louder needs to answer first.
If Ashton Jeanty and a couple of the gambles land, hindsight will be kinder than this grade.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 14 they get a bell-cow for the offense at a price that makes it sweeter.
In the 18th pick they get a building block for the line at fair value. Exactly the need they had to hit.
No drama and no debate, Jihaad Campbell went about where he belonged in pick 37. A minor itch, scratched.
The board fumbled Tetairoa McMillan all the way to slot 46, and they scooped it up. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
TreVeyon Henderson at the 58th overall pick is a sensible buy, a touch better than market for the running back. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Quinshon Judkins at the Round 3 slot is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. It fills a real need, too.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Jalen Milroe in the 68th pick, miles early. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Somehow Jayden Higgins was still sitting there in slot 86, and they pounced on premier wide receiver value. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Andrew Mukuba slid further than he should have, and No. 94 is lovely value for the safety. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
A curious use of the 108th overall pick. Edge rusher, cornerback and other spots needed the pick; a safety in Kevin Winston Jr. did not.
Nothing to complain about; Anthony Belton went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Hard to square with the roster. With positions of obvious need still on the board, Billy Bowman Jr. adds a safety and leaves edge rusher, cornerback and other spots untouched.
Jordan Phillips in pick 125 is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Smael Mondon Jr. in Round 5, Pick 5 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. They doubled down on a strength rather than a need.
They will replay Brashard Smith at pick 166 for years; that is how good the value is. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
They took Vernon Broughton at par in the 179th pick, which is nothing to complain about. A need, and now a little less of one.
Dont'e Thornton Jr. at the 180th overall pick is right where the board had him, plain and simple. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They talked themselves into Garrett Dellinger at pick No. 214, and the board did not agree. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.