Official Las Vegas Raiders Thread

Raiders make some moves on offense.

FB Connor Heyward
WR Dareke Young

Kubiak likes FBs, and Heyward is a TE/FB hybrid who is the son of Craig "Ironhead" Heyward. Dareke Young is a ridiculous athlete who played mostly on special teams. I was reading fan reactions from Seattle. They genuinely seemed to love the guy and wish him well with an opportunity to get more WR reps.

 

Raiders brought back Thomas Booker officially. He wasn't very effective last season, but he ate up snaps. They also signed Spencer Burford, the 49th-rated OG at PFF last season. That could be a big win for the Raiders.

Offense: Need a QB, could use a legit backup RB, and it's hard to have too much depth on the OL (But this is a distant issue)
Defense: not sure about our DTs, could use a LB prospect and some depth at DB

 

How are you gents feeling about the way the squad is coming together?

 

Squad still in a formative stage. Putting the pieces together. I like it so far with the new additions.

 

Hilarious moment.

IN Cousins QB
IN Tristin McCollum DB

 

BACK Will Putnam C
BACK Charles Snowden DE
BACK Jordan Meredith OL
BACK Ian Thomas TE

Some of these we knew about but were just made official. What does this doe for the team?

OL
Meredith and Putnam are backups. Putnam doesn't really move the needle, but Meredith gives the Raiders at least a rotational G backup who can start in a pinch, adding quality depth.

TE
Thomas didn't log enough snaps to qualify at PFF, but his 103.2 PRWT was pretty damn good. If he's your third TE, you're in good shape.

DE
Snowden outperformed both Wilson and Koonce last season. He gives the Raiders another starting quality player at DE.

 

Not really on the Putnam deal but he's a backup so means Powers-Johnson is now a G.

 

It's a minimum contract, $1m, so it's easy to shed. I'd like to see us add a lineman in the draft and push Putnam in camp.

 

Draft 2026
1.1 Fernando Mendoza
Looking at comparables, Mendoza should be a hit in the NFL.
I have him slotted in at 81 for next season, which would already put him ahead of Cousins (75) and AOC (37). He has a lot of work to do between now and the start of the season, but this pick was obviously a homerun.

 

Raiders trade back 36 and 117 for 38 and 93.

At 38, they take Treydan Stukes Jr.
More to come on him. Looks like a Safety in the NFL with blazing speed, a little older, and had an ACL tear in 2024.

 

3.67: Keyron Crawford DE
First impressions: seems like he was a very effective pass rusher.