B
Las Vegas Raiders
Best value of the weekend goes to the Raiders for Rourke: B.
by [email protected] ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 12 picks
· 11 steals
· 0 reaches
The Raiders spent the weekend waiting on one name, and it fell: Kurtis Rourke, the No. 144 name on the board, in the Round 6 slot. More right than wrong, and a B to match.
The edge rusher hole is the one line item this class does not answer. Stockpiling next year's capital is patient, if unglamorous, asset work.
The dealing tilted against them, just enough to notice. Cornerback was the priority and it is no longer a question, which is most of the job.
In sum, a sturdy weekend with one asterisk, the edge rusher spot they never got to.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 23 they get a wrecking ball inside at fair value.
A top-tier offensive lineman at a bargain, Josh Simmons in pick No. 37, plain and simple. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They barely believed it either: Omarion Hampton still on the board at the 54th pick. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They robbed the room for Benjamin Morrison here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Somehow Isaiah Bond was still sitting there in pick 73, and they pounced on premier wide receiver value. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
TreVeyon Henderson at the Round 3 slot is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
The board had Savion Williams higher than No. 107, and the wide receiver fell to them anyway. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A safety of that caliber at the 144th overall pick is the definition of value, full stop. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
Oronde Gadsden II at the Round 6 slot is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
They will replay Bhayshul Tuten at Round 6, Pick 36 for years; that is how good the value is. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
You do not let a quarterback like Kurtis Rourke reach pick 218 and blink. They did not. The roster fit checks out.
Raheim Sanders in the 224th pick should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.