The Las Vegas Raiders are the favorites to select running back Ashton Jeanty with the No. 6 pick in this month's NFL draft, but there are other potentially prosperous paths the franchise could take with that valuable of a selection.
For instance, the Chicago Bears are also in the mix for a running back and select 10th overall. Jeanty isn't expected to fall that far, and ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. has the Bears drafting tight end Tyler Warren at that spot. Kiper also predicts the top two wide receivers in the 2025 class -- Matthew Golden and Tetairoa McMillan -- will come off the board in the middle of the first round.
Las Vegas doesn't need Warren after landing Brock Bowers in the first round last year. However, a combination of Bowers and Warren would be dynamite for new QB Geno Smith and give the Raiders arguably the NFL's best 12 personnel.
The larger point is that by trading down to No. 10 with Chicago, Las Vegas could feasibly still get an excellent skill-position player to fill one of their several needs in that regard, while also picking up an extra draft asset -- and then some -- in the process.
Moe Moton of Bleacher Report on Sunday, April 13, authored a trade proposal in which the Raiders do exactly that, flipping the No. 6 pick to the Bears in return for the Nos. 10 and 72 selections in this year's draft as well as 2023 Pro Bowl running back D'Andre Swift.
"If Jeanty is available when the Raiders go on the clock for the No. 6 pick, the Bears can package Swift and a couple of premium picks to move up for Jeanty," Moton wrote. "The Raiders can upgrade the backfield by acquiring Swift and then draft a running back with one of three Day 2 picks to significantly improve their ground game, which finished with the fewest rushing yards last season."
Kiper and others have described the 2025 class as possessing one of the best groups of running backs in recent memory.
Jeanty has the potential to be an all-timer. However, adding Swift, a quality rookie rusher in round two or three, whoever the Raiders believe is the top receiver in the class at No. 10 and picking up an extra Day 2 selection early in the third round is the kind of package that could help elevate Las Vegas from the four-win team it was last season into an immediate playoff contender in 2025.
Swift, 26 years old, has two years remaining on his $24 million contract.
