The Las Vegas Raiders are meeting with many players at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine and are very much in the gathering intel stage of the pre-draft process. There's no way of knowing what the team will do in the draft until they finish up free agency.
Notably, starting linebackers Robert Spillane and Divine Deablo are both free agents. If the Raiders lose one or both of them, they will likely need to address the position in the draft. Luckily, there's a hometown hero who could help fill the need.
UNLV linebacker Jackson Woodard isn't considered one of the top linebacker prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft but he did get an invite to the Combine. He revealed that he did have a chance to meet with the Raiders.
UNLV linebacker Jackson Woodard said he’s met with the #Raiders through the pre-draft process.
— Levi Edwards (@theleviedwards) February 26, 2025
The Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year is one of eight players from his conference to be invited to the NFL Combine this year. pic.twitter.com/VePLhRKdXu
The fact that the Raiders met with him means they at least have a little interest. Pro Football Focus doesn't have him as a top-300 prospect but do believe he has some upside.
"Woodard isn’t presently in the top 300 prospects on the PFF big board but his grades were stellar across the board and he was invited to the NFL combine. Woodard’s 80.5 PFF defense grade, 86.5 PFF run-defense grade and 53 stops were all above the NFL linebacker group's averages," Jordan Plocher wrote.
It sounds like Woodard may be an undrafted free agent. If that happens, the Raiders should pounce. He's not from Las Vegas but he did spend the last two years as one of UNLV's best players. He'd be a fun story to have around and could potentially have upside in run defense.
The Raiders do have a lot of linebackers from Antonio Pierce's tenure so it could be difficult to make the roster but it's easy to Woodard being a potential practice squad piece for a team like the Raiders.