The Las Vegas Raiders parted with the extra 2025 third-round pick they got in the Davante Adams trade to get quarterback Geno Smith, but they still have nine total picks in next month's draft. Their headliner pick is No. 6 overall, but they have three picks in the top-70 overall and five in the top-150.
What the Raiders do with the sixth overall pick is a naturally an open question. Recent mock drafts love Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty as the pick there, in a move to give Pete Carroll a workhorse running back. But they are in a position to take the proverbial "best player available", and they wouldn't be wrong to do so. Trading up or trading down is possible too.
ESPN's Bill Barnwell recently took at look at eight teams and recommended if they should trade up or trade down in the first round of the draft. The Raiders were on that list, as a team who should trade down.
Bill Barnwell makes case for Raiders to trade down from No. 6 overall
A notable part of the Raiders recent struggles has been a lack of notable contribution of draft classes from the Jon Gruden and Josh McDaniels regimes. Barnwell provided some sobering details there.
"Including the picks traded for wideout Davante Adams in 2022, they had 14 first- and second-round picks between 2018 and 2023. One of those picks is going to start for the 2025 Raiders, and it's the first one: left tackle Kolton Miller, who turns 30 this year."
"Miller is the only player left from the 2018 draft, and star pass rusher Maxx Crosby is the only guy left from 2019. There's nobody on the roster from the class of 2020. Edge rusher Malcolm Koonce is the only 2021 draftee here. There are four players from 2022, but the only starter is guard Dylan Parham. And the team's top two picks from 2023, edge rusher Tyree Wilson and tight end Michael Mayer, haven't been able to sustain regular roles in the lineup. The Tom Telesco-authored 2024 draft delivered a genuine star in first-round tight end Brock Bowers, but there's a missing generation of talent here."
If a player the Raiders really like is there at No. 6 (Jeanty, Shedeur Sanders, etc.), then they should stay put and take him. However, Barnwell noted the benefit of extra draft picks the Seattle Seahawks enjoyed early in Carroll's tenure there, and offered it as something the Raiders could/should replicate.
"Carroll's early days in Seattle -- where the Seahawks benefited from having extra picks in each of his first three drafts -- are an example of how Las Vegas should be approaching its long-term vision with smart short-term decisions."
Draft season can be fertile ground for outlandish and lame ideas. But this one is viable and reasonable for the Raiders, with a move down from No. 6 overall absolutely in play.