We are through ten weeks, which means we’re officially on the downslope of the 2025 NFL season. Nine games in and the Raiders are already on their second losing streak. They have traded away their top receiver and fans are beginning to shift their focus to the future. That means it’s time to start looking at 2026 NFL Draft positioning.
Thursday night the Raiders dropped their third straight to fall to 2-7 on the season. Sunday, they saw three other teams who were ahead of them in the draft order win their games — the Saints, Jets, and Dolphins.
While this always helps in the long run, unfortunately it only meant moving up one spot in the draft order.
Two wins on the season is the same as the second overall pick. But having had their bye week along with their strength of schedule (.553) puts them as the last two-win team in the order.
What’s hurting the Raiders, and will continue to hurt them, is being in such a strong division. All three of the other teams in the AFC West have winning records. Only the NFC West has a better record for its top three teams (20-8) than the AFC West (20-9).
While it doesn’t seem exactly fair for the Raiders to be judged by what other teams do, that’s just how it is. For that reason, the Raiders would need pretty much every other team with the same record or worse to win in order for them to have a chance to move up in the draft order.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders rise in 2026 NFL Draft order after Week 10
