D-
Las Vegas Raiders
Larceny in slot 167 lands the Raiders a D-, Williams and all.
by [email protected] ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 15 picks
· 9 steals
· 2 reaches
This is the pick they will still be bragging about in July: Savion Williams, the No. 98 name on the board, stolen at the 167th pick. The math is unkind, and the D- follows.
Overpaying at the table undid a lot of the good work elsewhere. For all the activity, edge rusher went untouched, which is hard to explain.
They are betting Tuten proves the room right and everyone else wrong. The bill for those future picks comes due whether the class hits or not.
In short, the board sent warnings, and they will be hoping it was wrong.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 21 they get a ballhawk on the outside at a price that makes it sweeter. Exactly the need they had to hit.
In pick No. 27 they get a No. 1 receiver at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
Grey Zabel at the 37th overall pick is a sensible buy, a touch better than market for the offensive lineman. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A market-rate offensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Tyler Booker. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
TreVeyon Henderson at the Round 3 slot is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. It fills a real need, too.
Isaiah Bond in No. 73 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They barely believed it either: Dylan Sampson still on the board at Round 3, Pick 27. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Darien Porter in the 107th pick is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Oronde Gadsden II in slot 127 is the kind of reach that only looks good if he outplays it. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A premium they did not need to pay, Bhayshul Tuten a notch or two before his time. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Circle this one: Savion Williams at pick 167 is a fall that decides a draft. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
No drama and no debate, Dont'e Thornton Jr. went about where he belonged in the Round 6 slot. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A wide receiver of that caliber at the 214th pick is the definition of value, full stop. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Taking KeAndre Lambert-Smith in No. 218 is close to grand larceny; a wide receiver that good had no business lasting this long. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They robbed the room for Jaylen Reed here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.