Insider Hints Raiders Missed on ’25 Draft Target by Trading Down too Many Times

The Raiders will go into Thursday with the no. 36 pick in the draft (fourth pick in the second round) and an ESPN report this week said John Spytek and company are not likely to trade up from the 36th pick.

Long time insider Vinny Bonsignore was on the Raiders’ flagship radio station on Wednesday and said he thinks there are scenarios where the Raiders might try to move back into the first round, but he also added an interesting comment about last year’s draft.

According to Bonsignore, the Raiders might have missed on a player they wanted in the second round last year by trading down too many times.

“I think there were some things that they learned from [last year’s draft]. I think maybe if they had to do it over again, maybe they don’t trade down twice in the second round. I think that maybe they might have missed out on a guy that they thought could have been there at one of those turns in the second round that they surrendered,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s JT the Brick Show.

“But, you know, those are learning experiences. They still ended up with a couple of offensive linemen out of those trades that they really like in the third round, Caleb Rogers and Charles Grant, that could be starters this year. So maybe that all works out because that’s how they end up getting those two players.”

Bonsignore didn’t identify the player he thought the Raiders might have been targeting in the second round, but the trades they made were from pick 37 to pick 48 and then traded pick 48 to pick 58 where they drafted TCU wide receiver Jack Bech.

Only two wide receivers were taken in that stretch, but it’s possible they were looking at another position.

Whether they got the players they wanted or not, it’s no secret that Spytek and former head coach Pete Carroll weren’t a great fit and that shouldn’t have come as a big surprise considering multiple reports have indicated that Carroll wasn’t necessarily Spytek’s first choice to be the team’s head coach in 2025.

“According to sources, Spytek did not have much say in the hiring of [former head coach Pete] Carroll,” league insider Tony Pauline reported in December.

“Holding the sixth pick of the 2025 draft, the Raiders selected record-setting running back Ashton Jeanty of Boise State, a Carroll pick,” Pauline continued. “I’m told there was pushback on the selection, as many in and around the organization believed a lineman was the way to go. Defensive tackle Mason Graham was a name making the rounds, as he was seen as a replacement for Wilkins, who the team knew they would be without in 2025. The Raiders had no opportunity to draft Graham, as the Browns selected him with the fifth choice.”

Spytek stood behind the Jeanty pick, but if Carroll was the driving force behind the pick, it sounds like Spytek may have pulled away from the input of others with his other picks.

“I’ve heard that last year he kind of shut people out, kind of went rogue and did his own thing,” The Athletic’s Nguyen said on the Just Win podcast of Spytek’s handling of the draft in 2025.

“I think this year, having a whole year to work on the draft with his people preparing and everything, whereas last year he was kind of hired and had to go into the draft right away, not knowing everybody around him. He hired Brian Stark, the assistant GM, who was part of the presser after the draft last year. So he knows who he’s working with. This is his coach that he hired. It’s going to be a bit different with how he works with everyone and how he collaborates with everyone.”

Every indication is that the Raiders’ building was more aligned on the decision to hire head coach Klint Kubiak, and that would be a welcomed development considering the way the season played out in 2025.

Kubiak’s deal with the Raiders is a five-year agreement, and that dynamic should push the organization to offer their head coach a little more patience this time around… not that anyone was overwhelmingly disappointed to see Carroll let go at the end of the season.

x: @raidersbeat