The 2025 NFL Draft is officially about one full month away from starting. Time flies, doesn’t it? Well, perhaps not if you’re a fan of the Las Vegas Raiders who’s been focused on the draft since before the year 2024 had even concluded.
This draft in particular is a big one for the Silver and Black–and not just because they have a high first-round pick. On top of this being the first NFL draft Pete Carroll is taking part in as a member of the Raiders organization, John Spytek, Sin City’s general manager, is preparing for his first go-around in Las Vegas as well.
That’s a big deal.
With a five-year contract to stay in Las Vegas, Raiders controlling-owner Mark Davis made it clear Spytek will be around for a while. And, in the meantime, this team will be built exactly how he and coach Carroll see fit.
April marks the laying of the first brick towards building that vision, and a foreshadowing of the direction the Raiders are heading towards during the multi-year Spytek era.
So what will the tandem of Pete Carroll and John Spytek do?
This 2.0 version of my three-round Raiders mock serves as an educated guess to that question. If you’re interested in seeing 1.0, that can be found here. Otherwise, it’s onto the second installment.
Monfreda Mock 2.0: Las Vegas Raiders add much-needed electricity to the roster
1.6: Ashton Jeanty
Now in the third week of March, all signs continue pointing towards a marriage between the Raiders and Ashton Jeanty–although that can change between now and the start of the draft. To the point that, all of the heavily-sourced draft analysts have mocked Jeanty to Las Vegas in their latest mocks.
That’s something Raider Nation should be happy about, being as Jeanty may very well be the best pound-for-pound player among all of this year’s draftees. And, even better, Jeanty just so happens to play the position that’s arguably the worst on the Raiders’ roster at this moment in time.
There’s not much more to say about Jeanty that hasn’t already been said. The nation’s leader in rushing yards (2,287), rushing touchdowns (28), yards after contact (1,695), forced missed tackles (125), 10-plus yard runs (55), 15-plus yard runs (33) and first downs (103), was the Heisman runner-up for good reason.
The Boise State superstar did, after all, prove he was more valuable to his school than any player in the entirety of the FBs was to theirs. Under Jeanty, the Broncos earned the third-seed and therefore a first-round bye heading into the big tournament for a National Championship.
But..
..Ashton Jeanty plays in the Mountain West division.
As it just so happens, the 21-year-old faced two top-16 defenses via [least] points per game surrendered in the FBS this past season. And, he performed great against both.
Against Oregon in Week 2, Jeanty exploded for 192 rushing yards (third-most in FBS that week) with eight forced missed tackles (one less than the most among all FBS runners in Week 2) with three rushing touchdowns. Against Penn State in the College Football Playoffs, Jeanty made 16 would-be tacklers miss; three more than any runner had during any week of the expanded playoff format.
Not only was Jeanty’s 16 forced missed tackles against Penn State the most among all players in any game during the playoffs, but it was the third-most any FBS runner had during any point of the ’24 season in general. The third-most behind.. Ashton Jeanty in Week 4 (17), and Ashton Jeanty in Week 10 (20).
But you can’t draft a running back at six.
Why not? Would the Philadelphia Eagles have hoisted the Lombardi Trophy this past year without the presence of Offensive Player of the Year winner Saquan Barkley? Did free agent running backs Josh Jacobs and Derrick Henry not make their new team better while their old team simultaneously became worse without them? Running backs matter; in a big way.
But it’s a deep running back class.
If you were a team’s general manager, would you settle for, say, Jaylen Waddle if Justin Jefferson was available? Of course you wouldn’t!
That doesn’t mean Waddle isn’t a fine player, because he certainly is, but Jefferson, like Jeanty, is a whole different animal. A true game-changing weapon, as he proved all throughout his ’24 campaign.
2.5: Luther Burden III
Luther Burden falling into the second round? This mock is getting unrealistic.
Well, not quite. Burden appears to be falling in a big way. In fact, neither NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah nor ESPN’s Mel Kiper had Burden going in the first-round in their latest mocks put out this week.
The Raiders get an eclectic play-maker at the receiver position in a big way. Burden, who ran a 4.41 at the Scouting Combine, is exactly that. His ’23 campaign more than proved that true.
With 718 yards after catch, only one receiver in the entirety of the FBS beat Burden in this area during the ’23 season. Only 15 players were able to top his 20 forced missed tackles on receptions as well.
Side note: Incredibly enough, one of those 15 players to make more would-be tacklers miss on receptions than Burden in 2023 was no other than Ashton Jeanty. Incredible, right?
But back to Burden.
The Missouri alum even showed off his hands in 2023, catching 13 passes in tight coverage. Only 10 players across the FBS had more catches of this variety than Burden.
Of course, Burden wasn’t so hot this past year. His receiving yardage dropped from 1,212 in 2023 to 676 in 2024, as did his touchdowns, going from nine to six.
However, Burden was able to make even more would-be tacklers miss this past season, upping his total to 30. That’s what the Raiders need most; a player who can make plays with the ball in his hands at the receiver position.
3.4: Andrew Mukuba – The Las Vegas Raiders’ last pick
The Raiders could use some defensive back help, and Texas safety Andrew Mukuba gives them just that.
Mukuba, who secured four interceptions last season with an additional pick in the playoffs, is a coverage specialist. The 6-foot-0 defensive back forced an incompletion of 33% on passes his way this past season, earning the second-highest mark in this area among all safeties around the FBS to record at least five pass-breakups.
Unsurprisingly, Pro Football Focus awarded Mukuba with the sixth-highest coverage grade (87.9) among all safeties for his work in 2024.
We’re dealing with an exceptional athlete here, too. Not only is he quick, clocking a 4.45 40-time at the Combine, but he knows how to use his speed. His excellent change of direction stands out the most in this regard.
It’s not all perfect, however. Like every player getting drafted on Day 2, there are concerns. If there weren’t, they’d be off the board.
For Mukuba, perhaps the biggest concern is tackling. 16.4% of his tackle attempts, for reference, come up as missed attempts. Three players in Texas’ secondary alone who had at least 350 defensive snaps finished with a mark at least half of this; 8.2% or lower.
Relating it to the Raiders, none of the three safeties with the three-most defense snaps for Las Vegas in 2024 finished the season with a worse mark than Mukuba. And that’s in the National Football League, where opposing ball-carriers are much harder to bring down.
Still, the Raiders get a great young talent for their secondary with their last pick in this three-round mock.
*Top Photo: Getty Images
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