B
Las Vegas Raiders
Best value of the weekend goes to the Raiders for Watts: B.
by tavierw ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 5 steals
· 0 reaches
You build a draft on nights like this. Xavier Watts had no business being available in pick 141, and the Raiders did the only sane thing and turned in the card.
The edge rusher hole is the one line item this class does not answer. Cornerback is handled and the depth chart looks a good deal healthier for it.
Not a headline-grabber, but a perfectly good weekend's work.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 7th overall pick they get a true top target. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
Tate Ratledge at pick No. 38 is money in the bank, a offensive lineman taken below his worth. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Carson Beck in the 69th pick is exactly on the number, no argument either way. The roster fit checks out.
Denzel Burke at No. 73 is right where the board had him, plain and simple. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
You do not let a running back like Omarion Hampton reach pick 105 and blink. They did not. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Xavier Watts in the Round 5 slot is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
Deontae Lawson at Round 6, Pick 10 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. A minor need, but a need all the same.
They barely believed it either: Bryce Foster still on the board at slot 212. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A straight-up fair deal on Ben Yurosek at Round 6, Pick 39, value and slot in agreement. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Good price on Xzavier Henderson in the 224th overall pick, a hair ahead of his grade with no real quibbles. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.