The Las Vegas Raiders ended the 2026 NFL Draft with 10 draft selections. Six of those players were drafted on Day 3.

Vice President of Player Personnel Brandon Hunt and Director of College Scouting Brandon Yeargan spoke to the media regarding the team's draft selections from Saturday.

A leap of faith on Tennessee cornerback

Day 3 of the NFL Draft started off with a bang for the Raiders, who traded up one spot to select Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy.

McCoy is universally regarded as one of the top cornerback prospects in the draft class, with NFL Network's Bucky Brooks even labeling him as the second-best cornerback behind first-round pick Mansoor Delane. Despite McCoy's incredible ballhawk skills and ability to play sticky man coverage, there were some questions and concerns around his health after suffering an ACL tear in 2025.

The Raiders assessed the risk, believing it was worth taking a leap of faith for the 20-year-old cornerback in the fourth round.

"This is probably arguably the best corner in the draft," Hunt said, "and we feel like we have great, great people and a great process to make sure we get the best out of this player."

McCoy told media after being drafted that he'll take the direction the Raiders medical team sees is best for rehabbing his knee. The Raiders front brass clarified that they'll get a better understanding of the situation when he reports for rookie minicamp.

"We're going to get him in the building, make all those decisions, but right now, we're really excited about celebrating this kid and getting him in the building," Hunt said. "He's 20 years old, he's twitchy, he's fast, he's a cover guy, he's got some punt return skills, and we're really excited to see what he does. And the future is bright for this guy."

Moving on from former first-rounder

The Raiders chose to move DE Tyree Wilson, packaging him with the No. 219 overall pick in a trade to the New Orleans Saints for the No. 150 overall pick (Dalton Johnson).

Wilson was a first-round pick of the Raiders in 2023. He totaled 12 sacks and four forced fumbles in three seasons with the Silver and Black. With the addition of Kwity Paye in free agency, along with the team drafting Keyron Crawford in the third round, the Raiders found it was in the best interest for both parties to move on.

"We're just going to say it was just an opportunity for a fresh start," Hunt said. "Fresh start for him, fresh start for us. The phone's ringing the whole entire draft, and where we were when the phone call rang, we were looking at where we were as a team, we were looking at the decisions that we'd made in free agency, the decisions we'd made in a draft, and we thought it'd be an awesome opportunity for him, awesome opportunity for us."

"I was fired up just because we moved up to get Dalton Johnson, so that trade allowed us that opportunity," Yeargan added. "We have a lot of conviction and belief in Dalton Johnson's ability to play defense and special teams, too. So, that was pretty exciting for me as a college scouting director."

Fortifying the secondary

The most represented position groups in the Raiders' draft class are cornerback and safety, as the team selected four defensive backs.

General Manager John Spytek mentioned several times that he wanted to add depth to the secondary and labeled safeties as one of the positions with the most value. This Silver and Black ultimately drafted Treydan Stukes and Dalton Johnson, who played alongside each other at Arizona for four seasons. In that span, the duo combined for 12 interceptions and 32 pass deflections.

"We had a pretty clear vision for both those players and affinity for them separate from them as a package deal," Yeargan said. "We would have been interested in both players at different spots, but we're really excited to add both those guys."

The two cornerbacks selected were McCoy and Cal's Hezekiah Masses, with the latter having a breakout 2025 campaign with 18 pass deflections along with five interceptions.

"A lot of the guys we added in the secondary group can play different spots between Treydan Stukes, Dalton Johnson, Zeke [Hezekiah Masses] and Jermod too," Yeargan said. "All those guys are pretty versatile. They've played nickel, they've played deep, they've played outside, even Stukes has played outside corner in his career too. So, it really helps, especially [since] we're going to have a pretty versatile scheme under Robbie Leonard."

Getting faster on offense

The Raiders also drafted two offensive weapons that could potentially make life easier for No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza.

The Silver and Black certainly becomes a faster team with running back Mike Washington Jr. and receiver Malik Benson, as each ran a sub-4.4 time in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. Washington is expected to come in and ease the load for 2025 first-round Ashton Jeanty.

"We were excited to get him for sure," Yeargan said of Washington. "6-foot-1, 225, 4.3, ran for over 1,000 yards this year, super productive, high character. ... We feel like he's a really good fit for Coach [Klint] Kubiak and Andrew's [Janocko] scheme in the wide zone system."

As for Benson, he's not just a deep threat in the vertical game, but brings special teams value as a punt returner.

"It was really cool with him, he averaged 16.7 yards a catch," Hunt said of the receiver. "And I think he had five catches over 40. So we're just talking about explosives, right? Trying to find more field stretchers guys to make more explosive plays and open up this offense."