2026 Draft - Raiders & all teams (April 23-25)

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RaiderFan1
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2026 Draft - Raiders & all teams (April 23-25)

Unread post by RaiderFan1 »

Obvious Mendoza #1 no consideration of trading that pick.
But who you got picks 2 - 4 thats going to help Mendoza.

#2 Raiders should be able to select WR Chris Bell or WR KC Concepcion with our early 2nd.

#3 I forget who it was, but someone here mentioned that the best pure dominant RT coming out of college could be got in the 3rd. And stated hes played his whole career at RT, and not being moved around the line.

Sounds like solid gets

Id hope the rest of the draft is building the trenches, with maybe 1 DB in there

Who else you like ?
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Unread post by GoodTimeCharlie »

rich72 wrote: Wed Jan 21, 2026 10:41 pm I have to fault Spytek for allowing Carrols kid to stay as O-line coach. He should have personally fired him if Carrol was going to make excuses for the glaring issues on our O-line. Our O-line was so badly coached that im not even sure that we can properly evaluate their talent, or Genos for that matter. It didnt help that Chip Kelly is basically incompetent as well, it was like a perfect storm of garbage coaches.
With the total clusterfuck that it was, and the moves that were made, I’m confident that a first year (ever) GM in Spytek, had his hands-tied by a guy who’s been a part of coaching in some capacity for 54 years.

We’ll be far more clued-in to Spytek, Brady, and a mute Doofus by the end of the this year’s draft.
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Unread post by BoJacksonRules »

GoodTimeCharlie wrote: Wed Jan 21, 2026 10:56 pm With the total clusterfuck that it was, and the moves that were made, I’m confident that a first year (ever) GM in Spytek, had his hands-tied by a guy who’s been a part of coaching in some capacity for 54 years.

We’ll be far more clued-in to Spytek, Brady, and a mute Doofus by the end of the this year’s draft.
Agreed, seems like new GMs (unless an internal hire) usually make several poor choices their first year as it takes time to have a firm grasp of your roster and needs.
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Unread post by raider_kin »

BoJacksonRules wrote: Thu Jan 22, 2026 3:31 am Agreed, seems like new GMs (unless an internal hire) usually make several poor choices their first year as it takes time to have a firm grasp of your roster and needs.
Plus it sure looks like Carroll was given final say on personnel, so I imagine he had that authority for his staff as well.
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Unread post by raidersince63 »

raider_kin wrote: Thu Jan 22, 2026 7:09 am Plus it sure looks like Carroll was given final say on personnel, so I imagine he had that authority for his staff as well.
Yup, I can't imagine anyone taking the HC position without having say so about who his staff/players will be.

“If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries.”

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Unread post by MexicanHulk »

I’m with some others, not a big fan of Sarratt in the second. He doesn’t seem to get separation much with his skill set. Meaning, his balance of, not fast enough, acceleration in & out breaks, deception in his route running &, not great hands. I will say tho, I haven’t watched too many games of him so maybe, I’ve caught only his 2-3 bad games where, he just didn’t have it.

One guy I watched a little bit of that I like is, WR Germie Bernard. He looks like a nice 2-3 round pick. I like him more atm, than Sarratt. He seems to have a solid balance of the above skill sets I mentioned. Acceleration is Smooth in & out of breaks, solid route running that with good coaching can get better &, deceptively fast.

WR Chris Bell, even with his injury, could be worth the investment in 3-4 round. If he falls that far. Not sure if he would
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Unread post by haji81872 »

I know it doesn't matter, but to others is does, if he can get his 40 time down to 4.4 he might sneak into the back of the first round. He, as the talking heads like to say, has helium.
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Unread post by raiderjohn »

rich72 wrote: Wed Jan 21, 2026 10:41 pm I have to fault Spytek for allowing Carrols kid to stay as O-line coach. He should have personally fired him if Carrol was going to make excuses for the glaring issues on our O-line. Our O-line was so badly coached that im not even sure that we can properly evaluate their talent, or Genos for that matter. It didnt help that Chip Kelly is basically incompetent as well, it was like a perfect storm of garbage coaches.
This is generally what happens when there are too many chefs in the kitchen. Davis was hired by Carroll, Brady hired Chip, and well we know who hired Brennan. This is the importance of the chain of command, GM hires the coach and gets the players. HC hires his assistants, guys he knows AND can work with on a daily basis.
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Unread post by DanKD »

I am sure some will disagree but I'd like to see the OL and offensive depth primarily addressed in free agency and a majority of our draft picks after Mendoza used for defense. We have a huge dearth of young talent on defense and have invested a lot of picks on offense. To be clear OL is #1 priority but I'd like ready to play + starters over more guys who need developed. Now if someone falls to round 2 is a plug and play starter sure but all picks after that will almost certainly be players who need to sit and be developed and we already have a lot of those.
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Unread post by DarthRaider »

DanKD wrote: Thu Jan 22, 2026 12:46 pm I am sure some will disagree but I'd like to see the OL and offensive depth primarily addressed in free agency and a majority of our draft picks after Mendoza used for defense. We have a huge dearth of young talent on defense and have invested a lot of picks on offense. To be clear OL is #1 priority but I'd like ready to play + starters over more guys who need developed. Now if someone falls to round 2 is a plug and play starter sure but all picks after that will almost certainly be players who need to sit and be developed and we already have a lot of those.
I agree, if possible in free agency we need veteran depth/talent. There’s a lot of good defensive players in the 2nd/3rd round. With that being said if there’s a stud WR or OL in the 2nd/3rd just take best player available.
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Unread post by Attyla »

DanKD wrote: Thu Jan 22, 2026 12:46 pm I am sure some will disagree but I'd like to see the OL and offensive depth primarily addressed in free agency and a majority of our draft picks after Mendoza used for defense. We have a huge dearth of young talent on defense and have invested a lot of picks on offense. To be clear OL is #1 priority but I'd like ready to play + starters over more guys who need developed. Now if someone falls to round 2 is a plug and play starter sure but all picks after that will almost certainly be players who need to sit and be developed and we already have a lot of those.
There is an inherent problem with this as a blanket statement. We do not know how many of the Olinemen are going to resign with their teams. A few might retire. And in almost every circumstance there is a reason why these guys hit the market. Either they priced themselves out of their team, which means we overpay, they have flaws in their game, which could be a coaching problem but often they are not well rounded both with run and pass blocking, or other issues. There are a lot of linemen lined up to be free agents but almost all of the good one's will likely resign.

My go to plan would be to grab 2-4 linemen if they are worth it and spend wisely to fill as many gaps as possible. Then the draft can more comfortably fall to us instead of us pressing.
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Unread post by BoKnows81 »

I think the consensus is that we need to get O linemen that can play day 1, whether in free agency or the draft. If that means spending a 2nd and 3rd on an upgradeable O line position, so be it. No projects. No "upside" guys. No 7th rounders. Day f[raiders_icon]cking 1 starters. I personally don't care if we do a complete overhaul on the line, specifically at LG, C, RG and RT. Miller should be safe to pencil in at LT but there def should be a succession plan there as well. We can't f[raiders_icon]ck around and wait until year 2 or else our shiny new QB could be dead.
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Unread post by raidersince63 »

BoKnows81 wrote: Thu Jan 22, 2026 1:00 pm I think the consensus is that we need to get O linemen that can play day 1, whether in free agency or the draft. If that means spending a 2nd and 3rd on an upgradeable O line position, so be it. No projects. No "upside" guys. No 7th rounders. Day fcking 1 starters. I personally don't care if we do a complete overhaul on the line, specifically at LG, C, RG and RT. Miller should be safe to pencil in at LT but there def should be a succession plan there as well. We can't fck around and wait until year 2 or else our shiny new QB could be dead.
Yup, we did see some progress from the youngsters near the end of last season so maybe at least one of them will make a solid starter going forward. We obviously have the cap room so there's at least 1 or maybe 2 pieces of the puzzle. And as you alluded to, there's still gotta be 1 or 2 good ones in rounds 2 and/or round 3.
And I still believe Maxx is as good as gone which would garner us even more cap room to acquire additional help with the OL/DL via a trade OR more draft picks...of course we have other needs as well.

Personally, I like SFs blueprint which seems to focus more on FAs and trades by acquiring PROVEN players as opposed to drafting players who may or may not pan out regardless of what round they were selected.
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Unread post by Attyla »

BoKnows81 wrote: Thu Jan 22, 2026 1:00 pm I think the consensus is that we need to get O linemen that can play day 1, whether in free agency or the draft. If that means spending a 2nd and 3rd on an upgradeable O line position, so be it. No projects. No "upside" guys. No 7th rounders. Day fcking 1 starters. I personally don't care if we do a complete overhaul on the line, specifically at LG, C, RG and RT. Miller should be safe to pencil in at LT but there def should be a succession plan there as well. We can't fck around and wait until year 2 or else our shiny new QB could be dead.
Ideal world, we fix every line issue before the draft. I don't think it is likely but that is the ideal world. I think we can make a huge dent in the issues. But we also need a oline coach who can, oh, I don't know...coach? Draft is weak at tackle and center but guard looks promising. Obviously that is not regarding top end guys who will go early, Center isn't terrible but I like the guard class.
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Unread post by tatalalicious »

Xramfan wrote: Wed Jan 21, 2026 2:34 pm One game I know but I wasn’t impressed with Sarratt against Miami at all. Not even a little
I was actually more impressed with Charlie Beckers performance in the playoffs for IU. Too bad he's not draft eligible till next year.
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Unread post by BoKnows81 »

Attyla wrote: Thu Jan 22, 2026 1:42 pm Ideal world, we fix every line issue before the draft. I don't think it is likely but that is the ideal world. I think we can make a huge dent in the issues. But we also need a oline coach who can, oh, I don't know...coach? Draft is weak at tackle and center but guard looks promising. Obviously that is not regarding top end guys who will go early, Center isn't terrible but I like the guard class.
I'd have no problem using a 2nd & 3rd on guard if we have to. It's absolutely mind numbing that we were having this same discussion last offseason. Not only did they think a solution was signing one of the worst guards in the NFL (Cappa), they doubled up and gave the line a moron for a coach.
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