While the NFL draft is in the rearview mirror for many Las Vegas Raiders, we’re already getting started on next year’s class. So, deal with it, folks.
Las Vegas just welcomed 10 drafted rookies plus what appears to be an entire community college worth of undrafted free agents, and somehow the building is already focused on the class two years from now. That’s either elite organizational discipline or a very diplomatic way of saying “we know how this season might go.”
The good news? The 2027 class is legitimately deep from QB to safety, top to bottom. The bad news? By the time we get there, the Raiders’ needs will have changed so many times that today’s scouting report will be as accurate as a 2-minute drill with Derek Carr under center.
This summer we’ll be breaking it all down; we’ll have you covered with all the prospects, the positions, and the players who’ll surprise you. Consider it the most optimistic thing about the Raiders you’ll read all year.
As far as this scenario goes, let’s see how general manager John Spytek would do in a scenario where the Raiders find themselves with a top five pick next year. More importantly, maybe it’s time to start looking at a long-term replacement for Maxx Crosby given his declining health.
2027 2-Round Raiders Mock Draft: Replacing Maxx Crosby?
Round 1: Colin Simmons, EDGE, Texas
The first thing the film tells you about Colin Simmons is that his first step is not normal. It is not fast but violent. Off the line of scrimmage, he creates displacement before the tackle has even finished his kickslide, and that advantage compounds everything that follows. He sounds like a Raider already.
Simmons arrived at Texas as a five-star recruit, so elite athleticism was expected. What was not fully anticipated was how his basketball background shows up on film. The lateral agility, the hand-eye coordination in traffic, the instinctive feel for bodies in space. Those traits translate, and they’ll appear in his bend around the arc, in his ability to stay square while collapsing inside, and in the hand fighting that breaks grips at an uncommon rate for a player his age.
His speed-to-power conversion is the most dangerous weapon he carries. He invites tackles to commit outside, then redirects that momentum into a bull rush that finishes in the quarterback’s lap. It is a move that requires timing, strength, and body control in equal measure. Simmons pulls it off with unsettling regularity.
Two traits push his profile beyond raw athleticism. His motor never stops, and when the competition gets better, so does he. That is not a coincidence. Rather, it’s character revealing itself under pressure.
There are still questions. NFL hand length, true speed-to-power against elite college tackles, and how his game holds up against pro blocking schemes all need more examination. But the foundation is legitimate. His get-off alone earns a first-round conversation. Everything else he does moves that conversation earlier on the board.
The work on Simmons has started. It will continue all summer long.
Round 2: Brandon Baker, OG, Texas
Brandon Baker did not announce himself. He earned his way into this conversation quietly, and that says something. You can bet Spytek will take note depending on what happens with the right side of his offensive line.
As Texas’s first-year starting right tackle, Baker opened 2025 with legitimate concerns. He was oversetting on defenders and losing the details in hand placement against quicker pass rushers. Those are correctable problems, but correction requires both self-awareness and coaching. Baker found both.
More Las Vegas Raiders content
- Ashton Jeanty will be feeling the “pressure” from Klint Kubiak
- The sweepstakes for Maxx Crosby might not be over if you’re the Bears
- Do Raiders fans care about Josh Jacobs’ recent legal troubles?
Working under offensive line coach Kyle Flood, his technical refinement has been week-over-week and measurable. Against Vanderbilt last season, he posted an 85.9 pass block grade across 37 snaps, surrendering zero sacks and zero pressures. That is not a fluke; quite the opposite, he’s a player who identified what was failing him and fixed it.
The evaluation is early. But the trajectory is pointed in one direction. Baker is a name for Raiders fans to track all season long.
*Top Photo: Getty Images