Carter Owen

11 new Raiders

• The Raiders entered the 2025 NFL Draft with nine picks and added two more after trading back with Miami and Houston in the second round. It marked the first time the Silver and Black have traded back twice in the same round of a draft since 2019.
• The Raiders' 11 draft picks are tied for the most by any team. According to Josh Dubow of the Associated Press, the Raiders had five top 100 picks for just the fourth time in the last 40 years.
• According to General Manager John Spytek, the Raiders evaluated 1,497 players during the pre-draft process and wrote 3,902 reports on those players. That research yielded players from 11 different college teams in six different conferences. Three of those draft picks (Charles Grant, Cam Miller and Tommy Mellott) played at FCS programs. The Raiders were the only NFL team to select multiple FCS players and matched the Indianapolis Colts in 2022 for the most FCS players selected by a single team in an NFL Draft this decade.
• The Silver and Black selected offensive players with five of their first six picks and seven of their total 11 choices.

Turning around the run game

From calls with Marshawn Lynch to discussions with Pro Football Hall of Famer Marcus Allen, the excitement outside and inside the organization for the addition of running back Ashton Jeanty is palpable.

The Raiders ranked last in the NFL in rushing last season (79.8 yards per game) but look primed to make a big improvement in 2025. Jeanty should have a lot to do with that.

In 2024, he recorded the second-most rushing yards in a season in FBS history (2,601). Jeanty's 185.8 rushing yards per game were the most in a single season since LaDainian Tomlinson (189.7) in 2000. He also led all FBS running backs with 106 first-down carries and 29 rushing touchdowns.

Jeanty is the highest-drafted running back by any team since Saquon Barkley (second overall in 2018) and the highest-drafted running back by the Raiders since Darren McFadden (fourth overall in 2008). Jeanty, McFadden and Pro Football Hall of Famer Marcus Allen (10th overall in 1982) are the only running backs to be drafted by the Raiders in the top 10 in the common draft era.

Adding to the trenches

Along with Jeanty, the Raiders drafted two offensive linemen with back-to-back picks at No. 98 and No. 99. First off the board was Texas Tech's Caleb Rogers.

"He's a high passion guy and he flies around the field," Spytek said.

Rogers finished his freshman season as the Red Raiders' starting left tackle and finished his career as a team captain. His 55 career starts in 61 games played rank second all-time in program history. Rogers became just the 10th Texas Tech player to be drafted in the top 100 picks of the NFL Draft since 2000 and the first Texas Tech offensive lineman to hear his named called before the seventh round since 2016.

Just after Rogers was selected, Spytek went to the FCS to take William & Mary tackle Charles Grant.

Grant was a wrestler and didn't play football until his junior year of high school, but enjoyed a rapid rise to stardom with the Tribe. He started 41 games at left tackle, was a consensus All-American and became the highest-drafted William & Mary player since 2009.

Fast facts

• Ashton Jeanty (sixth overall) became the first top 10 pick in Boise State history. He also joined Doug Martin (2012) - a former Raider - as the only Boise State running backs to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.
• Jack Bech (58th overall) is the fourth highest-drafted wide receiver from TCU in the common draft era and the fifth-highest drafted wide receiver by the Raiders since the 2000 Draft.
• Bech began his collegiate career at LSU in a position room that featured five other future NFL wide receivers. As a true freshman on a roster with notable names like Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr., he led the Tigers with 43 receptions and finished third on the team with 489 receiving yards. After transferring to TCU, Bech became just the fifth player in school history to record a 1,000-yard receiving season. According to The 33rd Team, Bech had just one drop on 91 targets in 2024.
• Darien Porter's 4.30 40-yard dash time at the 2025 Combine ranked tied for third among all players. Per NFL Research, it is tied for the 10th-fastest 40-yard dash by a defensive back at the Combine since 2003.
• Dont'e Thornton Jr. (108th overall) led Tennessee last year with 661 receiving yards and added six touchdown catches. He also led the FBS in yards per catch (25.4). Thornton's selection began a stretch of three consecutive picks from the SEC for the Raiders in Tonka Hemingway (South Carolina) and JJ Pegues (Ole Miss).
• Cody Lindenberg (222nd overall) is the latest homegrown Minnesota linebacker to be drafted into the NFL. He joins Minnesota natives Boye Mafe (2022), Kamal Martin (2020), Carter Coughlin (2020) and Blake Cashman (2019).