B+
Las Vegas Raiders
Nobody dealt better than the Raiders this weekend: B+.
by [email protected] ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 14 picks
· 7 steals
· 2 reaches
Some picks age like wine; Ty Hamilton at the Round 6 slot will need to, sitting 38 spots clear of his grade. It nets out to a B+, which feels about right.
They banked enough surplus on Belton to cover a lot of smaller sins. Every deal seemed to tilt their way, which is not luck.
If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through edge rusher.
Nothing here to lose sleep over, and plenty to feel decent about.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 26 they get protection for the quarterback, outstanding value to boot. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
They will replay Luther Burden III at No. 37 for years; that is how good the value is. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
No edge and no loss on Jihaad Campbell in the 39th pick; it is a wash and a sensible one. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
They took Benjamin Morrison at par in the Round 2 slot, which is nothing to complain about. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Nice patience on Xavier Watts, who had no business lasting to the 58th overall pick. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Nothing to complain about; Quinshon Judkins went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. It fills a real need, too.
Darien Porter in pick 79 lands just on the right side of the ledger. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Steal is underselling it; Dylan Sampson at the 90th pick is a heist with the alarm still ringing. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Dylan Fairchild at pick No. 108 is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Anthony Belton at the 143rd overall pick is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
The board fumbled Bhayshul Tuten all the way to No. 180, and they scooped it up. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
They reached a country mile for Ty Hamilton at slot 213, and the board is aghast. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Isaac TeSlaa in Round 6, Pick 39, miles early. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Quietly one of the better values of the day, Jordan Hancock at the Round 7 slot. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.
