
Thor Nystrom ...
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In the 2025 NFL Draft the Las Vegas Raiders drafted …
Las Vegas Raiders | Draft Grade: B
Grading on a flat curve, I (Thor) will dish out Fs like I do As, and nobody is immune. That said, let's get into my grade of the Raiders draft.
There was heavy steam in the 48 hours leading up to Round 1 that Ashton Jeanty would be a top-5 pick—gone before the Raiders picked. Ultimately, that didn’t happen, and HC Pete Carroll begins his Raiders tenure with his Marshawn Lynch.
In my decade doing NFL Draft work, I have never seen a college player who is more difficult to tackle than Jeanty. Jeanty has the contact balance of the spinning top at the end of Inception. He is barely fazed by first contact. Defenders slide off Jeanty like they’ve hugged an electrical fence.
Jack Bech, who I comp to Eric Decker, will start immediately in the slot. Bech has really good ball skills, extending to the ball and greeting it with soft hands. Bech is exceedingly comfortable with company at the catch point, creating space with the ball on its way with his hands and contorting to give himself the best of it. He’s always been strong in contested situations.
Bech played three-quarters of his snaps on the boundary last season. He was a big slot earlier in his career, and that may ultimately end up being his destiny in the NFL.
Ian Hartitz: The touch ceiling here might as well be the moon: Jeanty is poised to work as the everydown workhorse inside a Chip Kelly offense that posted average top-7 rankings in rush attempts and yards during his time with the Eagles and 49ers. While it'd be a lot cooler if the Raiders' offensive line and overall scoring upside were better, Jeanty checks virtually every other box you could hope for from a fantasy RB. Guys like Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry certainly could outscore the rookie with good health, but I'm betting on Jeanty's youthful upside winning out in the long term, and accordingly he's my sixth overall player in half-PPR scoring.