B
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders robbed the room for Smith. Final grade: B.
by [email protected] ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 15 picks
· 11 steals
· 0 reaches
The best pick of the weekend was also the simplest. The Raiders watched Brashard Smith slide 49 picks past his grade and did not hesitate.
Leaving edge rusher unaddressed is the roster risk they will have to answer for in the fall. They squeezed a little extra out of every move they made.
In sum, a sturdy weekend with one asterisk, the edge rusher spot they never got to.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 6 they get a potential shutdown corner. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
In Round 1, Pick 21 they get a true top target at fair value. Exactly the need they had to hit.
They read the board right and Kenneth Grant was the payoff at the Round 2 slot. A need, and now a little less of one.
A slide stopped in slot 37, with Nick Emmanwori worth more than the price. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
By-the-book stuff, Jaxson Dart at No. 56 squarely in line with his ranking. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
TreVeyon Henderson slipping to the 68th pick is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
They paid sticker price for Tate Ratledge in pick 73, and that is fine. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Donovan Jackson at the 94th overall pick is money in the bank, a offensive lineman taken below his worth. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Devin Neal at the 107th pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Will Howard at pick No. 144 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Brashard Smith in slot 165 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
You do not let a tight end like Oronde Gadsden II reach the 182nd overall pick and blink. They did not. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Dont'e Thornton Jr. at the Round 6 slot is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Jordan Hancock at Round 6, Pick 36 is the proof. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
Steal is underselling it; Antwane Wells Jr. at No. 218 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.