B+
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders let Martinez fall and pounced. Final grade: B+.
by Bmaahs20 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 7 steals
· 0 reaches
You build a draft on nights like this. Damien Martinez had no business being available in slot 218, and the Raiders did the only sane thing and turned in the card. It does the job without flash, and the B+ reflects it.
The dealing alone would carry a lesser class. If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through edge rusher. Cooper Kupp gives the group a proven body among the projects.
Job largely done: cornerback settled and 6 of 8 of the wish list covered.
Good work on the whole, with edge rusher the one box left unchecked.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 6th pick they get a bell-cow for the offense. A real need, handled.
Derrick Harmon at No. 37 nudges the ledger their way without any fuss. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
You do not let a quarterback like Jalen Milroe reach the Round 4 slot and blink. They did not. The roster fit checks out.
Billy Bowman Jr. at Round 5, Pick 5 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
Jacob Parrish in pick No. 152 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
A quiet steal in slot 182: Jack Nelson for less than the market said. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A tight end of that caliber at pick 214 is the definition of value, full stop. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
The board fumbled Damien Martinez all the way to the 218th overall pick, and they scooped it up. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
They robbed the room for Cobee Bryant here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.