Re-drafting the Raiders: A same-position thought experiment reshuffles key 2024 picks

What happened is not an actual Raiders roster move, but a re-draft exercise. Yahoo Sports published a “same-position” alternate version of the Las Vegas Raiders’ 2024 Draft class, rebuilding each pick by position using the same overall selection numbers, then selecting from players who were on the board at the time of the original pick. The premise matters because it shows how much of a roster outcome can be driven by position-specific needs, draft-day decisions, and the simple availability of prospects at each slot.

The framework starts with the idea that the first Las Vegas Raiders draft class under general manager Tom Telesco and head coach Antonio Pierce should be treated as the test case. Under the exercise rules, the Raiders would still be allowed to choose any player, but they must draft at the same position that was originally taken at that pick. The re-draft also avoids assuming trades, and it restricts what a later-round selection can “inherit” from earlier busts, based on the exercise’s eligibility guideline: if a player from an earlier slot did not reach first-round value, the author says they would not use that outcome to justify taking that same type of player later.

In the re-draft’s first round, the author points to a pick at 13th overall (the Raiders’ selection in the original build) where the alternative becomes TE Brock Bowers. The Yahoo piece labels Bowers as the “original pick” in that scenario and adds context about his production and durability over his NFL career, including that he has posted 1,874 receiving yards on 176 catches and 12 touchdowns, while averaging 10.6 yards per reception. The article also notes Bowers missed five games in 2025 and dealt with lower snap counts due to an MCL sprain, information used in the author’s case for value at the position.

The re-draft then extends into the next tier with an interior offensive line adjustment. At 44th overall in the alternative, the author’s same-position choice is IOL Zach Frazier, and the piece juxtaposes that against an original pick of IOL Jackson Powers-Johnson at 51st overall for context. While the Yahoo article does not present a full, pick-by-pick explanation of every selection in the excerpt available here, it does emphasize that the first three rounds would remain the backbone of the exercise, with later picks used to fill out depth and roster balance under the same-position constraint.

The broader point the piece makes is that even when you force consistency by position, you can still meaningfully change the team’s long-term outlook. The author describes the “first class” concept as one that initially helped establish roots for the Raiders, then argues there are “a couple spots” where the roster could be improved in the re-draft, particularly when the talent pool at specific positions is deeper than the original outcome might have captured.

For Raiders fans, the takeaway is less about who “should” have been drafted and more about what the same-position constraint reveals. If the Raiders’ early-round needs were met by the best available player at that exact positional label, the team’s foundation could have looked different, and those downstream choices often matter most for how a roster develops from year one to year three.