Mailbag: What position will Las Vegas Raiders target with 36th pick of 2026 NFL draft?

We are less than three weeks away from the Las Vegas Raiders being on the clock to kick off the 2026 NFL Draft, likely marking the beginning of the Fernando Mendoza era in Las Vegas. But the Raiders’ roster has plenty of other holes to fill, and John Spytek has nine other draft picks (barring any trades) to plug them up. So, we’re focusing on the second round and beyond in this week’s mailbag. Let’s get to it!

Nunchucks

Hey Matt…At pick 36…Do we go NT, x WR or S???…All three seem to be glaring holes.

A: You’re right that those are significant needs heading into the draft, but I think the Raiders are in a spot where they can let the draft board fall to them and go with a best player available approach at pick 36. Could that end up being someone who plays one of those three positions? Certainly, especially if there’s an expected first-rounder that slides on day one.

However, don’t be surprised if a talented edge-rusher, cornerback, etc., slips, and Spytek takes someone higher on his board rather than filling an obvious or more significant need. Las Vegas has been in the business of collecting young talent to get the rebuild going this offseason, and drafting a more talented player versus reaching for a need falls in line with that strategy.

That being said, I could see a scenario where a nose tackle is the ‘BPA’, based on current draft projections. Guys like Ohio State’s Kayden McDonald and Texas Tech’s Lee Hunter were getting some first-round love a couple of months ago, but both of their draft stocks seemed to have cooled off since then, where both could be available at 36.

Also, Georgia’s Christen Miller appears to be trending upward recently, and it seems like we could see three safeties taken in round one: Ohio State’s Caleb Downs, Oregon’s Dillon Theineman and Toledo’s Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. Plus, there’s typically a run on wide receivers on the first night of the draft. So, if I had to pick between the three positions in question, I’d go with nose tackle.

Q: You can only pick one. Kayden McDonald, Denzel Boston or Caleb Lomu have fallen to 36. Which one are you taking?

A: Well, teams can only draft one player at a time anyway, LOL!

Lomu is an interesting option here because he seems to be on the fringe of the first and second rounds, so there’s some BPA value with him. Also, that would give the Raiders another immediate right tackle option and a potential long-term replacement for Kolton Miller, who will be 31 years old in October.

However, I’m not that sold on Lomu, and asking him to switch from left to right makes him a bigger project, which the Raiders already have at right tackle with DJ Glaze and Charles Grant. Plus, Grant is another candidate to potentially replace Miller down the line. So, I’d pivot to McDonald, filling the immediate need at nose tackle while also providing value at the draft slot (in other words, not a reach).

You all have been sending a lot of these questions my way recently—and keep them coming, I enjoy answering them because it makes me think through the draft decision-making—but most have McDonald thrown in there. It makes sense because of the need and that seems to be his draft range, but know that most of the time, if he’s included, that’s who I’m going with. LOL!

I have a thing for defensive linemen and like his game a lot, where McDonald is going to be my top choice for the Raiders in the second round more often than not. So let’s mix it up over the next few weeks and hit me with a few other names, or maybe even dive a little bit further into the draft and look at the third round!

TVRaider

Kinda think the Raiders may very well go OT at #36. Who do you think will still be there?

Caleb Lomu, Blake Miller, Max Iheanachor?

Max Iheanachor

A: Of the three, I think Iheanachor is the safest bet to be available at 36.

I just touched on Lomu, and Miller is an interesting one where I could see a Super Bowl contender that needs an immediate starter at right tackle taking him in the backend of round one. The Clemson product has the size and traits to justify a first-round selection, and four years of starting experience at right tackle in college would be intriguing for a team that’s focused on winning now.

Meanwhile, Iheanachor is a more raw prospect since he didn’t start playing football until he began junior college in 2021. So, teams at the end of the first round that are looking for immediate contributors might pass on the former Sun Devil.

That being said, I’m not so sure the Raiders will target an offensive tackle before Day 3 of the draft.

The coaching staff seems content to let Glaze and Grant battle it out in training camp and is chalking up a lot of last year’s struggles on the Carrolls. Also, after taking heat for drafting two offensive linemen in the Top 100 during the 2025 draft and them not getting playing time during the season, I don’t think Spytek would be keen on walking into that situation again.

If it’s a three-way position battle at right tackle and say Glaze wins the job, that’s another year that Grant doesn’t get many game reps and back-to-back draft classes where highly drafted offensive lineman doesn’t get much playing time in Iheanachor. Even if Glaze moves inside and the competition is between Grant and Iheanachor, at least one top 100 pick from the last two drafts is riding the bench.

Offensive line isn’t like other positions where guys constantly rotate in and out of the game, which blurs the lines when it comes to BPA strategy mentioned above. If Las Vegas drafts an edge rusher or cornerback at 36, at least they can contribute on third downs and get some playing time as a rookie.

Q: Personal favorite mid-round DB targets to add depth at S/CB?

A: Especially if the Raiders don’t draft a safety in the second round, I’m pounding the table for Bud Clark out of TCU in the third or fourth. Clark is one of “my guys” in the draft and would be the ballhawk that the defense has been missing over the last few years. I also like Genesis Smith from Arizona and Indiana’s Louis Moore as a couple of additional mid-round options at free safety.

At cornerback, South Carolina’s Jalon Kilgore is an interesting nickelback/strong safety option. I also like Chandler Rivers out of Duke to fill a role similar to what Amik Robertson used to do, as an undersized corner who has inside-outside versatility to be a valuable backup/spot starter. On the outside, Daylen Everette from Georgia has traits that are worth betting on in this range of the draft.

Q: I’m excited to see what Michael Mayer and Brock Bowers may be able to do if we finally get to see a full season out of both of them together. But, with both of them having missed some games, do you think Spytek may be looking at a tight end in the draft to back them up?

A: Barring a Bowers-like surprise during the draft, I don’t see Spytek drafting a tight end before day three. However, I do agree with the overall point in this question that tight end could be a sneaky need. The offense could use another blocker in the position group right now, and Mayer is entering a contract year. Especially since Klint Kubiak likes to use 12 personnel, a tight end is certainly on the table in round four or later.

Keep an eye on Stanford’s Sam Roush. Right now, he’s a better blocker than receiver, but is an excellent athlete who earned a 9.94 RAS at the NFL Combine to develop into a better pass-catcher and well-rounded tight end down the line. That gives the offense another blocking tight end in 2026 and a potential long-term replacement for Mayer, saving salary cap space for what will be a market-resetting contract extension with Bowers.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Roush gets taken on Day 2, but he does have a fourth-round projection on NFL Mock Draft Database’s consensus big board and ranks 110th overall, as of April 3. Meanwhile, the Silver and Black own picks 102 and 117.

Raiderallus

Mendoza is three weeks away from officially joining the Las Vegas Raiders Easy trigger. Are you not afraid of incurring the wrath of Murphy’s law? I’m not superstitious but I’m a little stitious

It’s bad luck to be superstitious

A: As a Raider fan who has endured the last 20-plus years, I’ve seen plenty of “what can go wrong, will” scenarios, so I live in constant fear of Murphy’s Law when it comes to the Silver and Black. LOL! So, that’s certainly on my mind with Mendoza, but I’m choosing to ignore it for now!

Q: What are the differences between the 3-4 defense that new coaches call versus my favorite one, old school Wade Phillips that used to blitz from every angle?

A: Most 3-4 coaches are a lot less blitz-happy than Phillips was in his heyday, that’s for sure. Most modern coordinators will keep it pretty vanilla on first and second downs or run situations, and then lean on simulated pressures for third downs or passing situations. The latter forces offensive lines to account for six to seven defenders in their protection scheme, helping to create a free rusher for the defense without having to sacrifice the number of coverage defenders, since one or two are going to drop into coverage.

In other words, a defense can have the same effect as a blitz with only four or five pass-rushers.

The rise of sim pressures and why defensive coordinators have been using them more often in the last decade or so is tied to the rise of the passing game. In the 80s, 90s and even early 2000s, when Phillips was rising to prominence in the NFL, most offenses operated out of 21 personnel with a fullback and a tight end in the game, so there were only two receivers on the field.

With two corners in the game, defenses didn’t have to worry as much about coverage mismatches (i.e. a wide receiver on a linebacker or safety), so they could get away with blitzing more frequently. Then, the passing boom in the late 2000s to early 2010s and spread offenses started making their way into the professional level.

That made fullbacks less common as offenses started using more 11 and 10 personnel, meaning more wide receivers were on the field, increasing the risk of coverage mismatches. Also, tight ends started becoming big wide receivers. Jimmy Graham is a great example of that. So, with offenses trending toward three-receiver sets and more athletic tight ends, defenses couldn’t blitz as much because that meant leaving at least one defender out to dry.

The way to nullify that issue is to have more defenders in coverage to create a numbers advantage: seven defenders to cover, at most, five pass-catching threats.

Also, Kubiak alluded to this during the owners’ meeting, telling reporters that Rob Leonard isn’t just a 3-4 guy and will likely use a variety of fronts as defensive coordinator. The difference between a 3-4 and a 4-3 scheme isn’t as significant as it was in the past.

Tied back to the rise of the passing game, defenses are in nickel personnel (five defensive backs, six defensive linemen and linebackers) more often than they are in base (four defensive backs, seven defensive linemen and linebackers), generally speaking.

So, there’s quite a bit of crossover between modern 3-4 and 4-3 defenses since either scheme is going to have just six front-seven defenders on the field a good percentage of the time. The fewer front players you have, the less variety of fronts you can run.

Now, coordinators are still going to want to draft or add players who fit their “base” packages, but the difference between the two styles of defense isn’t as significant as it used to be with nickel personnel becoming more popular. Nowadays, the bigger difference is who the extra defensive back replaces: the nose tackle, a defensive end/tackle or a linebacker, which can vary from coach to coach and philosophy to philosophy.

Long story short, in the modern 3-4 defense, expect to see more simulated pressures than blitzes and six-man boxes than what you might be used to or expecting from the past.

That’ll do it for this week’s mailbag. Thank you all for submitting questions and, as your weekly reminder, if you’d like to have your questions answered in a future column, tweet them at me, @MHolder95, email them to SBPQuestions1@gmail.com or look for our weekly call for questions on the site. The latter will continue to publish on Thursdays.

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