C
Las Vegas Raiders
A costly weekend of dealing drags the Raiders to a C.
by [email protected] ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 13 picks
· 5 steals
· 2 reaches
The Raiders went off the board in a big way for Garrett Dellinger, 62 picks early. Conviction is one thing; this is another. The good and the questionable cancel out to a C.
The Sampson steal is the beam this whole class leans on. They handed away value on the phones that the picks cannot earn back.
With edge rusher, tight end and other spots unsolved, spending premium capital on linebacker is the choice that costs them. The edge rusher spot stays a question, and it was the one they most needed an answer at.
If Jahdae Barron and a couple of the gambles land, hindsight will be kinder than this grade.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 17 they get a ballhawk on the outside. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
Emeka Egbuka slipping to the Round 2 slot is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They took Jihaad Campbell at par in No. 37, which is nothing to complain about. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
Xavier Watts at the 45th overall pick is right where the board had him, plain and simple. It adds depth where they could use a little.
A clean, defensible pick in Round 3, Pick 4 with a little surplus value in Quinshon Judkins. A need, and now a little less of one.
Jayden Higgins at the 70th pick is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Taking Dylan Sampson in slot 88 is close to grand larceny; a running back that good had no business lasting this long. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Of all the spots to shop, they chose linebacker. Chris Paul Jr. in No. 108 leaves edge rusher, tight end and other spots for later.
Kyle McCord at the 143rd overall pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Dont'e Thornton Jr. at pick No. 180 nudges the ledger their way without any fuss. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They robbed the room for Donovan Edwards here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They jumped the gun on Isaac TeSlaa, taking him earlier than his grade liked. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A real head-scratcher, Garrett Dellinger in the Round 7 slot is miles ahead of his ranking. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.