F
Las Vegas Raiders
The Thornton Jr. reach set the tone, and the Raiders never recovered: F.
by [email protected] ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 13 picks
· 5 steals
· 4 reaches
They will call it conviction in the building and a reach everywhere else: Dont'e Thornton Jr., 41 picks early at Round 5, Pick 5. A weekend to file away and forget, and an F to match.
The dealing is the wound this class cannot quite close. That quarterback hole did not close this weekend, and it was the biggest one on the wall.
That Smith pick is the receipt they will wave around later. It is a win-now wager, and the future is the stake.
There is no soft landing here: they fought the board and left quarterback open, and the grade is the bill.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 6 they get a load in the middle at fair value.
In the Round 1 slot they get a disruptor off the edge. Exactly the need they had to hit.
Grey Zabel at slot 36 nudges the ledger their way without any fuss. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They paid a round early for Aireontae Ersery in the 37th pick, more than the board wanted. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They read the board right and TreVeyon Henderson was the payoff at pick 68. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A reach for Darien Porter in Round 3, Pick 8; a little patience would have been rewarded. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Somehow Isaiah Bond was still sitting there in Round 3, Pick 9, and they pounced on premier wide receiver value. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
The board had Dylan Sampson higher than the 74th pick, and the running back fell to them anyway. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Good price on Kevin Winston Jr. in the 107th overall pick, a hair ahead of his grade with no real quibbles. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
They reached a country mile for Dont'e Thornton Jr. at pick 144, and the board is aghast. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Steal is underselling it; Brashard Smith at the Round 5 slot is a heist with the alarm still ringing. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Terrance Ferguson in No. 151 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
JJ Pegues at pick No. 156 is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.