B-
Las Vegas Raiders
A sensible, unshowy class lands the Raiders a B-.
by ggx1 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 3 steals
· 6 reaches
You can fall in love with a player. You are not supposed to marry him in the wrong round. The Raiders did exactly that with Kyle McCord in No. 106. It does the job without flash, and the B- reflects it.
The Higgins pick alone nudges the whole weekend up a notch. Leaving edge rusher unaddressed is the roster risk they will have to answer for in the fall.
In sum, a sturdy weekend with one asterisk, the edge rusher spot they never got to.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 8 they get a blindside protector. The biggest hole, addressed.
Omarion Hampton at Round 2, Pick 7 is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Charles Grant in the 69th pick is a bet on their own eyes over everyone else's grade. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Jack Bech in the Round 3 slot is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Kyle McCord at No. 106 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Circle this one: Danny Stutsman at pick 146 is a fall that decides a draft. A minor need, but a need all the same.
A big swing on Thor Griffith at the Round 6 slot, well ahead of any board in the building. A need, and now a little less of one.
They robbed the room for Jay Higgins here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
Tim Smith at No. 216 is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. It fills a real need, too.
Elijhah Badger at the 223rd pick is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.