Raiders Win Big on Day 2 of NFL Draft with Key Picks

HENDERSON, Nev.—The Las Vegas Raiders started their day welcoming their new franchise quarterback (QB) Fernando Mendoza, and ended with General Manager (GM) John Spytek, and Assistant General Manager (AGM) Brian Start celebrating a day two of the 2026 National Football League (NFL) Draft that couldn’t have gone much better.

Oh Happy Day

Raider Nation showing Fernando Mendoza the Love pic.twitter.com/pU0b5kcN6c
— Hondo Carpenter (@HondoCarpenter) April 25, 2026

Late into the evening and going well into Friday morning, the Raiders' brain trust had their draft board for the start of day two.

They had the 36th pick overall (fourth in the second round), and entering the NFL's annual selection process this morning, there were five players, not all of the same value, but all of more value than the 36th pick that they would have been thrilled to have selected.

This isn’t the Raiders of old; they are cool, cunning, and calculated, and as soon as the second pick of the day had been selected and none of their five were off the board, I tweeted about a possible trade down.

John Spytek, Fernando Mendoza, | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

I was tipped off to the thinking, and when they had the chance to make the trade with the Texans, and still have all five of their picks available, they pounced. Not only did the Raiders swap picks, but they also picked up a Texans third-rounder in exchange for one of their thirds. The Raiders not only won the trade, but they dominated.

An Elite Defensive Back in the 2nd Round

Arizona defensive back Treydan Stukes, a safety who plays with guts and passion and runs a 4.3 40-yard dash, had fallen into their lap. He graduated two years ago, was a walk-on who became a star, a three-time captain, and has a 4.0 GPA, and has everything the Raiders love.

He will play safety for the Silver and Black, and while he can also play corner and nickel, he is a baller. He is passionate about the game, and was rising so fast up many teams’ draft boards that NFL Executives were privately wondering if he would end up as the best safety in this draft, even over Caleb Downs, who played at Ohio State, and was picked 11th overall (first-round) by the Dallas Cowboys.

Around the NFL, the pick was lauded, and national draft pundits praised the Raiders' move.

Stark said of his new weapon, “Treydan [Stukes] is a very intelligent football player. He was also a really good communicator on the field. So, this is a player, he was a late bloomer, right? He was a walk-on, became a three-time captain. He's played all those positions we talked about. So, he's another player that's going to come in immediately and compete to play, bring some leadership, bring some communication ability. As good of a player as he is, as talented he is, he's that good or better of a person.”

Stretch Armstrong 2.0?

The Raiders' first pick of the 3rd round had some fans shaking their head, but no NFL teams.

The young man from Auburn can twist and turn his body in a way that one executive told me earlier this month, “Like Stretch Armstrong,” and has only been playing football for five years.

I had not mocked Keyron Crawford to the Raiders in any of my articles prior to tonight, because I didn’t see any scenario in which he would drop to them.

The Raiders literally stole the youngster who is absolutely driven. His ability to move is eye-popping, and his work ethic is astounding.

Stark’s explanation of what he liked about Crawford told the story, "When you talk to him, he's really intense, very motivated, he's driven. He's overcome a lot and he kind of found football late. And his experience at Arkansas State and his transition to Auburn gave him some confidence. And he's really motivated, he knows he's not at his ceiling, he's far from it. He had to and that's the way we feel. We feel he's going to bring a lot as far as competitive edge. "

Yet again, from the people in the business, the Raiders made two picks, and both were lauded.

A Gift Falls

In several of my mock drafts leading up to this event, I had Trey Zuhn III going to the Raiders. They had hoped the 2025 SEC offensive lineman of the year would fall to the fifth round, but it had become evident in the days leading up that he would not.

Multiple teams had him as a top-three offensive lineman in this draft, with the ability to play all five spots on the offensive line (he will be a guard for the Raiders), and the coaching staff at Texas A&M has said that he is the most NFL-ready offensive lineman they have coached.

He was one of, if not the most athletic, offensive linemen in this draft with the uncanny ability to get down the field 20-40 yards well into the fourth quarter. His stamina was literally called by one scout, “Freakish,” with his size and speed to maintain his aggressive edge for four quarters.

I asked him earlier this evening about that and he told me, “I think that's a super important thing to train, because picking up the running back down the field, or a receiver, or the ball carrier, it's super important to me, and it was important to us at A&M. So, that's something I'll definitely continue as being a Raider, and I'll definitely, yeah, keep that as part of my game."

Spytek raved about his versatility and talent, adding, “We went to the Miami-Texas A&M game this year, we watched Trey [Zuhn] play center, left tackle, center, left tackle, I mean, he moved all around that game against a pretty damn good front, too. So, versatility is awesome…
“

They Aren’t Done

The Raiders have six picks tomorrow, and let me say right now, I am already hearing they are working the phones, and I expect more horse trading tomorrow.

Their draft board is loaded. The talent left is impressive, and there are still legitimate starters going into the seventh round left on the board, with Saturday shaping up to be an impressive day.

I couldn’t let Spytek get away from me without a quick look ahead at how the draft board looks heading into Saturday. His optimism was very prominent.

“We've got a big night of meetings tonight, just kind of stack the board. It's early tomorrow, we're going to be off and running with the second pick. But we're just going to keep trying to identify the really good football players that want to be Raiders and lay it on the line for their teammates. We've got a lot of really good ones left too. We've got six picks left tomorrow, and we're thrilled and excited about that challenge and that opportunity tomorrow."

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