The Geno Smith trade has radically changed the Raiders priorities. No longer a QB desperate team, high-end talent across positions is now the priority.

I'm coming to understand that there are only three elite prospects in this draft: Carter, Hunter, and Jeanty. Both Hunter and Jeanty were available at pick 6, so I would have traded back one spot, but the Jets weren't interested, so I took Hunter.

Hunter is a perfect fit for our current team needs, as well as the franchise's historic style. I see him playing both sides of the ball for the Raiders, as a starting CB1 and rotational big play WR3. I imagine him playing something like 70% of snaps on defense and 40% of snaps on offense. Also, CB and WR are not the strength of this draft, so I can get other needs later.

I traded back one spot, 37 to 38, with the Patriots in order to move up from 144 to 105. There were two great DT's on the board, so this is a perfectly safe move. The Patriots took neither DT, so I had to choose between Tyleik Williams and Kenneth Grant. I'm taking Grant, because he's grading as the higher upside player of the two and we already have great defensive line talent to surround him.

After a lot of deliberation, I rejected a trade back, from 68 to 85, because there were a couple of good RB's still on the board and that is something the team really needs. With 68, I took Kaleb Johnson.

Anthony Belton is one of the relatively few OT's in this draft who actually profiles as a tackle.

Then I traded back from 107 to 118, which also swapped a 2026 7th for pick 154. The top players on the board were from positions I already drafted.

Corey Kiner is an interesting RB prospect, because he's actually known for being a great blocker. No problem grabbing a 3rd down back late on day 3.

Luke Lachey profiles as a TE2, which is all we need, since we're shopping our current TE2.

Truss is a versatile offensive linemen and the Raiders need depth all over.