The 2025 NFL Draft is all about teams making their rosters better, whether it's for the right now, or for the future. For the Las Vegas Raiders, it's about both -- their roster isn't ready to compete right now, but it's certainly a few years away.
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And this draft is full of players deep in the draft that can really be roster changers. There are guys deep in day three that can come in and be great depth guys that will help win important football games. And then at the top of the draft there are a few can't miss prospects. The Raiders will have an opportunity to get both in this draft. It's a great draft class, despite what anyone says about it being weak.
The class appears weak to some because the name power and QB-power aren't there within the class. That doesn't mean the class is weak. In fact, it's the opposite. The Raiders could take a franchise-changing player at No. 6. Who knows, they could take Mason Graham, the best defensive tackle, and maybe the best defensive player in the entire draft class.
And, it sounds like he would be interested in that as well.
“They’re a great organization. Pete Carroll is a cool guy, a player’s coach," Graham told reporters at the podium earlier this week.
The Raiders don't have a huge need at defensive tackle, but this is another situation that they were in last season. At pick No. 13, the Raiders took Brock Bowers, a year after they took tight end Michael Mayer. They took him because he was a can't miss prospect, a guy that you can't pass on either.
With Mason Graham, the defensive tackle out of Michigan, you're getting the same thing. In a defense that has Maxx Crosby and Christian Wilkins playing next to him, he would be successful in his first season. And, he wouldn't have to start unless they couldn't figure out a way to bring back Adam Butler, Matthew Butler, and John Jenkins, all guys who are free agents and played critical snaps at the DT position last year.
Graha, would be a huge pick for the Raiders, and it would only make the defense and team around the QB that much better, that way they are able to go after a rookie QB in the later rounds or a veteran QB in free agency. Who knows what will happen, but Graham sounds like he wouldn't be opposed to the idea.
And it may be time to start trusting the Raiders to make the right pick. Look at what Pete Carroll did in the draft with the Seattle Seahawks and what John Spytek did with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where both teams were really built through the draft.
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