There is reaching, and then there is Roman Hemby at No. 183. The Raiders jumped the board by 85 and dared it to prove them wrong. It nets out to a B-, which feels about right.

Whatever Fernando Mendoza becomes, the front office has tied its fortunes to the answer. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped edge rusher, which is a strange place to end up.

Whatever else happened, they won the night they took Taaffe. Cornerback was the priority and it is no longer a question, which is most of the job.

Bottom line, more hits than misses and a roster nudged the right way.