GM John Spytek is in his first year as general manager of the Raiders, but in more than a few ways he played the 2025 NFL draft like a seasoned veteran.
In the days leading up to the draft, the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Adam Hill said he didn’t think the Raiders were going to draft Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty because he didn’t think Spytek was “stupid.”
“John Spytek gave an interview not too long ago, and I’m sure some people saw it, that he basically said he wouldn’t be allowed back in his house if he doesn’t take Ashton Gentry,” Hill said on the Vegas Nation podcast.
“His son is like, ‘You’re not coming back, dad [if you don’t draft Jeanty].’ His son is very into fantasy football, so he wants a running back, scores touchdowns, all those things,” Hill continued. “John Spytek would not say that if they were taking Ashton Gentry. I don’t think he would. I just don’t think he would put that out there.”
But an ESPN story this week explained what Spytek was doing with his son’s story and added some interesting details on how the Raiders hid their interest in Montana State quarterback Tommy Mellott.
From ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler, this was one of the most interesting inside stories around the Raiders’ draft his year…
“Mellott had barely heard anything from the Raiders in the draft process. He never visited or talked to any of their coaches. The only contact he had with them directly was when one scout called him to confirm that they had the right cell number, but the call was so quick that he didn’t even get the scout’s name...
Raiders special teams coordinator Tom McMahon, from Helena, Montana, said the lack of demonstrated interest was intentional. “You want [awareness of] the ones that you’re really, really interested in to stay in the building,” he said.
Raiders general manager John Spytek said he felt good about the medical information he had on Mellott from the Raiders’ medical staff’s sources, so while there was some risk in not examining Mellott directly, there wasn’t an urgency to bring him into the facility for a predraft visit, what he calls a ‘trip.’
The risk also is that if you ‘trip’ somebody like this, you put yourself on the radar as a team that you’d want to get in front of if you want to pick him,” Spytek says.
So Spytek didn’t use a 30 visit on Mellott, in part to stay off of everyone else’s radar. The other part of it, he won’t get into. “We do lots of different things,” he says. “I involved my kid in the Ashton Jeanty chase, just to maybe get people to think that, well, he would never do what the 10-year-old says.” Spytek told reporters that his son would be “walking out of the family” if he didn’t draft Jeanty. The Raiders drafted the Boise State running back No. 6 overall.”
In the end, the quotes from Hill that drew attention going into the draft were exactly what Spytek was looking for.
The Raiders didn’t hesitate to draft Jeanty, and the information that left the building around the team liking Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. proved to be a different kind of smoke – although The Athletic’s Vic Tafur did report he thinks the Raiders would have drafted Banks if Jeanty had not been available.
But there was no consensus on what Spytek would have done if Jeanty had been drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
According to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, it would have been a defensive player taken if Jeanty wasn’t on the board.
“Had Jeanty not been there… and Mason Graham and Will Campbell, I think the Raiders would have pulled the trigger on Jalon Walker easily,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast. “I know the Raiders loved him. Had they traded back, let’s say they had gone to nine or 12, I would not have been stunned if Omarion Hampton was a Raider.”
x: @raidersbeat