C
Las Vegas Raiders
A franchise passer in Howard headlines a C weekend for the Raiders.
by RaiderRich ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 5 steals
· 4 reaches
Call it larceny. Cam Skattebo sat on the board until slot 222, and the Raiders did not need to be asked twice.
Every board in the league had Howard lower, and that gap is the story. Whatever Will Howard becomes, the front office has tied its fortunes to the answer.
If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through edge rusher. The trade table is where this weekend went wrong.
Bottom line, the swing picks will decide whether this ages well.
Pick-by-Pick
No drama and no debate, Kenneth Grant went about where he belonged in the 24th pick. A need, and now a little less of one.
In pick 31 they get a long-term answer under center, though the board says they badly overpaid.
The board had cheaper options than Jayden Higgins at the 68th pick, and it noticed. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
You do not let a safety like Malachi Moore reach slot 97 and blink. They did not. It adds depth where they could use a little.
A running back of that caliber at No. 106 is the definition of value, full stop. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Joshua Gray at the 142nd overall pick is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Taking Jeffrey Bassa in the Round 6 slot is close to grand larceny; a linebacker that good had no business lasting this long. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
A big swing on Jaylin Smith at pick 212, well ahead of any board in the building. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Circle this one: Cam Skattebo at pick No. 222 is a fall that decides a draft. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Seth McLaughlin in Round 7, Pick 38 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.