B+
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders won the weekend at the trade table. Grade: B+.
by DarthRaider ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 3 steals
· 3 reaches
The Raiders treated their own grade as gospel and everyone else's as noise, spending the 192nd pick on Storm Duck a full 43 spots early.
Getting Pearsall where they did is the sort of value that quietly makes a class. The phones were where this weekend was really won. For all the activity, tight end went untouched, which is hard to explain.
Deebo Samuel gives the group a proven body among the projects.
All told, a draft that does its job without fuss, and there is real value in that.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 14 they get protection for the quarterback. The biggest hole, addressed.
Nazir Stackhouse at pick No. 78 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Danny Stutsman at the 114th pick is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Joe Milton III in slot 115 is the kind of reach that only looks good if he outplays it. It fills a real need, too.
They went early on Frank Gore Jr. in the 151st overall pick, and the value did not follow. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Ricky Pearsall at the Round 5 slot is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Storm Duck at slot 192 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A slide stopped in the 235th overall pick, with Tyler Batty worth more than the price. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.