Raiders — 2026 Draft Recap

Welcome to the dark side, rookies. The Raiders walked into the 2026 draft with the number one overall pick and walked out with 10 new names — a two-sided reset. Quarterback at one, then a weekend spent rebuilding the secondary and adding athletes everywhere else. Five defensive backs. A wide-zone running back. A freaky tackle in round three. And a quarterback who threw 41 touchdowns in the Big Ten. Brandon Hunt called the theme character and competition — but the data says this class was about fixing two things: the quarterback spot and a pass defense that bled big plays.

The Raiders' 2025 passing offense generated minus 108 expected points added with 20 passing touchdowns and 22 turnovers. Enter Fernando Mendoza at one. The Indiana quarterback went 273-of-379 for 3,535 yards and 41 touchdowns against just 6 interceptions, plus 276 yards and 7 scores on the ground. Those 41 passing touchdowns led the entire country. His predicted points added — the college version of NFL expected points added — landed at plus 0.47 per play and plus 198.48 on the year. Read that 2025 number again: Mendoza alone threw twice as many touchdowns in college as the entire Raiders passing attack. In round six they handed him a vertical weapon in Oregon's Malik Benson — 43 catches, 719 yards, 6 scores, 16.7 yards a pop, and a per-play predicted points added of plus 0.78. Hunt's pitch: a 4.37 runner who wins on crossers, overs, and back-shoulders. A field-stretcher for the new arm.

The Raiders' 2025 pass defense surrendered 23 passing touchdowns and a positive 43 expected points added — offenses were profiting every time they dropped back. So the Raiders spent five picks on it. Arizona corner Treydan Stukes leads the haul at 38, with a Relative Athletic Score of 9.76 at free safety — Kent Lee Platte's 0-to-10 composite versus every safety tested since 1987, putting Stukes in the top 3 percent ever measured. At 67, Auburn edge Keyron Crawford — 9.5 tackles for loss, 5 sacks — a player Hunt says has only played football five years, with no bad habits to unlearn. Then the swing that may define this weekend: Tennessee corner Jermod McCoy at 101. A 9.81 Relative Athletic Score at corner, top 2 percent at the position, a player Hunt called arguably the best corner in the draft, who fell on a knee question 32 teams chewed on overnight. The Raiders traded up to get him. They moved up again in round five for Arizona safety Dalton Johnson — 97 tackles, 7 pass breakups, plus special-teams value. California corner Hezekiah Masses closed it out at 175 with 12 pass breakups, 8th-most in the country, on a more modest 3.39 Relative Athletic Score. Four of the five played multiple spots in college. That's the answer to a unit that allowed 214 yards a game.

The offensive line got one pick. It might be the bargain of the weekend. The 2025 Raiders allowed 64 sacks — sixty-four — and at 91, Texas A&M tackle Trey Zuhn III fell into their lap with a Relative Athletic Score of 9.99 at guard. That's the top of the chart. The 99th percentile of offensive linemen tested since 1987. Hunt said Zuhn plays every position and just blocks everybody, and the Raiders saw him live against Miami's first-round rushers. A direct response, at a discount.

The 2025 ground game put up 5 rushing touchdowns and minus 94 expected points added — a unit screaming for explosive juice. At 122, the Raiders found it in Arkansas's Mike Washington Jr.: 6-foot-1, 225 pounds, 4.43 speed, over a thousand rushing yards in his final college season, and a Relative Athletic Score of 9.90 — top 1 percent of backs ever measured. Hunt explicitly tagged him as a wide-zone fit. Late on day three at 229, they added NC State defensive tackle Brandon Cleveland — a multi-year starter Hunt described as a heavy-handed run defender with initial quickness — to anchor the interior.

Pick of the draft is Jermod McCoy at 101. Not the stat line — the value. You can argue Mendoza, because franchise quarterbacks always win this discussion. You can argue Zuhn, because a 9.99 athlete on a line that allowed 64 sacks is logical. But McCoy shifts the math of the entire class. The Raiders traded up to land him. Their own front office said he was a top-10 player on their board. They got him at 101. Corner is a position where premium athletic profiles do not get replaced cheaply, and the medical is one their staff has conviction on. If McCoy plays to his pre-injury grade, this is a top-15 player in round four. That's the pick that turns a solid class into a haul.

The biggest 2026 question is whether the secondary actually congeals. The Raiders bet hard on versatility — Stukes, Johnson, McCoy, and Masses can all flex between nickel, deep safety, and outside corner, and Robbie Leonard's defense is built for that. But four new defensive backs is a lot of new voices in one room, and a pass defense that allowed a 47 percent third-down conversion rate doesn't fix itself just by adding athletes. The Mendoza era starts now. The line got a 9.99 athlete to protect him. The secondary got a face-lift. Ten new dudes. The Raiders smashed the board — now they have to coach it up.