B+
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders let Howard fall and pounced. Final grade: B+.
by Brandohn13 ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 7 picks
· 4 steals
· 1 reaches
Call it larceny. Will Howard sat on the board until slot 144, and the Raiders did not need to be asked twice. A dependable weekend that grades out a B+.
A whole weekend of picks and cornerback is somehow still a want. The Alexander reach is the anchor dragging on the value grade.
A modest surplus at the table, banked quietly. They left with edge rusher solved and the rest of the wish list mostly ticked off.
Solid rather than spectacular, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 6 they get a premier pass rusher. Exactly the need they had to hit.
Luther Burden III in pick 33 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Quietly one of the better values of the day, Omarion Hampton at the 44th overall pick. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
They will replay Xavier Watts at pick No. 68 for years; that is how good the value is. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
Nothing to complain about; Jayden Higgins went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A big swing on Darius Alexander at Round 4, Pick 6, well ahead of any board in the building. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
They robbed the room for Will Howard here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.