C+
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders finally solved quarterback, and it carried them to a C+.
by Slappy Pappy ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 1 steals
· 2 reaches
They finally answered the question that shadows every other one. J.J. McCarthy is the Raiders' quarterback, full stop. Some smart calls, some head-scratchers, and a C+ in the wash.
They will need McCarthy to outplay his draft slot in a hurry to justify it. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped running back, which is a strange place to end up. Landing Jones that late papers over a lot of smaller sins.
If J.J. McCarthy and a couple of the gambles land, hindsight will be kinder than this grade.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 7 they get a passer to set the clock by, though the board says they badly overpaid. A real need, handled.
They paid up for Kingsley Suamataia at No. 44 when waiting would have done the job. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They took Cole Bishop at par in slot 106, which is nothing to complain about. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
They read the board right and Jarrian Jones was the payoff at the Round 5 slot. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Cornelius Johnson at the 182nd pick is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
A market-rate edge rusher, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Jaylen Harrell. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
No edge and no loss on Tylan Grable in the 227th overall pick; it is a wash and a sensible one. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Michael Barrett at pick No. 229 is right where the board had him, plain and simple. A minor itch, scratched.
A clean, defensible pick in pick 241 with a little surplus value in Edefuan Ulofoshio. Insurance at a position that did not really ask for it.