D-
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders left with their quarterback, and a D- to match.
by [email protected] ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 14 picks
· 7 steals
· 5 reaches
Nobody else had Jimmy Horn Jr. anywhere near the 238th pick. The Raiders did, by 113 spots, and that gap is the whole story. The board pushed back all weekend, and the D- is the result.
Getting Sampson where they did is the sort of value that quietly makes a class. They handed away value on the phones that the picks cannot earn back. The whole projection now runs through Jaxson Dart; hit there and everything else looks smarter.
The edge rusher spot stays a question, and it was the one they most needed an answer at.
In short, the board sent warnings, and they will be hoping it was wrong.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 6 they get an anchor for the defensive front at fair value.
In No. 29 they get the arm they will build around, a steep price for the projection. A real need, handled.
Nick Emmanwori at the Round 2 slot is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
They went early on Darien Porter in the 68th overall pick, and the value did not follow. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Tyler Booker in pick 73 is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They robbed the room for TreVeyon Henderson here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Nice patience on Savion Williams, who had no business lasting to Round 4, Pick 6. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They reached into another round for Dont'e Thornton Jr., and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They did well to land Oronde Gadsden II in No. 148, just ahead of his grade. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
They will replay Dylan Sampson at pick No. 182 for years; that is how good the value is. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
A running back of that caliber at the Round 6 slot is the definition of value, full stop. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Billy Bowman Jr. at pick 218 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
A wild overpay on Shilo Sanders in the 224th pick, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
A big swing on Jimmy Horn Jr. at the 238th overall pick, well ahead of any board in the building. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.