The Las Vegas Raiders nailed the 2025 NFL Draft. The team entered the event with several holes to fill, but new general manager John Spytek addressed nearly all of them.
In the first three rounds, the Raiders landed several starters, including Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, who may very well be the best player in the league at his position as a rookie.
It is impossible to go through an entire draft and make no mistakes, however, and the Raiders may end up regretting several of the decisions they made this past weekend.
Raiders may live to regret these 5 NFL Draft decisions
1. Taking Cam Miller over Quinn Ewers
During the pre-draft process, many in Raider Nation wanted the team to select a developmental quarterback who could eventually take the reins as the franchise player. Texas' Quinn Ewers could have fit the bill, but the Raiders passed on him several times and ended up choosing North Dakota State signal-caller Cam Miller instead. Ewers was very productive in college, and his arm talent is among the best in the draft class. However, despite being linked to Las Vegas and having more upside than Miller, the team opted to go in a different direction.
2. Failing to draft a slot corner
The Raiders needed to add a slot corner at some point during the NFL Draft, but they failed to do so with any of their 11 picks. When the team was on the clock with the No. 135 pick, UCF's Mac McWilliams was available, and he would have been a perfect fit. However, the team went with Tonka Hemingway, who should be a great player but does not fill an immediate need.
3. Picking Caleb Rogers & Tonka Hemingway over Marcus Mbow & Ty Robinson
Rogers is a tough and versatile player who should remind Raider Nation a lot of Jackson Powers-Johnson in terms of his ability to play multiple positions on the interior. Hemingway is an incredibly athletic and versatile player as well, who enjoyed tons of success in the SEC. Neither of these players were bad selections, but the team left two better players on the table.
Robinson is a similar player to Hemingway, but is a bit more rugged and had more production in college. Mbow was one of the more athletic and talented offensive linemen in the draft and may have served as a Day 1 starter in Las Vegas. Medical concerns may have done him in, but the Raiders could have added two players with Day 2 grades at this stage in the draft and they failed to do so.
Related: Re-grading the Las Vegas Raiders' 2024 draft class one year later
4. Letting Brashard Smith fall to the Chiefs
Ashton Jeanty was a homerun pick, but the Raiders could have also grabbed the best receiving back in the draft. Smith began his career as a wide receiver and showcased his dual-threat ability last year at SMU. He was the main catalyst for a Mustangs team that made the College Football Playoff, and he did it all in his first year playing the position. Las Vegas' choice to pass on him resulted in Smith landing with the Chiefs, a bitter division rival. Now, they'll have to live with their decision by playing him twice every year.
5. Selecting Tommy Mellott in the sixth round
While it is hard to harp too much on a sixth-round selection, picking Mellott was a poor choice. The team had already added two wideouts earlier in the draft, and several other positions needed to be addressed before picking a gadget guy like Mellott. A slot corner could have been taken with this pick, but instead, the Raiders opted for a player who will be changing positions at the professional level and will almost certainly land on the practice squad as a rookie.