B
Las Vegas Raiders
Ward is the plan now, and the Raiders grade out a B.
by Raiders ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 8 steals
· 1 reaches
The Raiders spent the weekend waiting on one name, and it fell: Jeffrey Bassa, the No. 131 name on the board, in Round 6, Pick 37.
Everything downstream of Cam Ward depends on Cam Ward, and the building knows it. They will need Prather to outplay his draft slot in a hurry to justify it.
With edge rusher, cornerback and other spots unsolved, spending premium capital on linebacker is the choice that costs them. The edge rusher hole is the one line item this class does not answer.
All told, a solid class that does its job everywhere but edge rusher.
Pick-by-Pick
Cam Ward at the 6th pick is right where the board had him, plain and simple. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Walter Nolen at the 37th overall pick is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Xavier Watts at pick No. 68 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. It adds depth where they could use a little.
The board fumbled Jihaad Campbell all the way to No. 73, and they scooped it up. A minor itch, scratched.
They bypassed pressing needs at edge rusher, cornerback and other spots to take Demetrius Knight Jr., a linebacker that was not the priority.
They will replay Jake Majors at the 142nd overall pick for years; that is how good the value is. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Billy Bowman Jr. at pick 178 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. Pure best-available; the position was not exactly begging.
A top-tier linebacker at a bargain, Jeffrey Bassa in slot 212, plain and simple. Insurance at a position that did not really ask for it.
They robbed the room for Joshua Gray here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Value said wait; Kaden Prather in the 222nd pick says they were not listening. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.