C+
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders robbed the room for Sampson. Final grade: C+.
by KID V ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 3 steals
· 6 reaches
The rest of the league will want that one back. Dylan Sampson tumbling to the Raiders in the Round 5 slot is a gift they did not have to think twice about. It washes out to a C+, no better and no worse.
They will need Rourke to outplay his draft slot in a hurry to justify it. The edge rusher hole is the one line item this class does not answer.
Hit on Shavon Revel Jr. and the swing picks, and this ages a lot better than it grades today.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 5 they get a potential shutdown corner, a steep price for the projection. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
Value said wait; Kurtis Rourke in Round 2, Pick 4 says they were not listening. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Value with a capital V on Dylan Fairchild in the Round 3 slot, a genuine coup. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Clay Webb at No. 70 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They robbed the room for Jake Majors here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Taking Dylan Sampson in the 142nd pick is close to grand larceny; a running back that good had no business lasting this long. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
They jumped the gun on Kevin Winston Jr., taking him earlier than his grade liked. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Elijhah Badger this early at slot 212. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A conviction pick on Will Howard at pick No. 215 that the board grades a round light. The roster fit checks out.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Thor Griffith well ahead of where he belonged. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.