The Raiders Franchise Was Literally One Pick Away From Creating An Unstoppable Dynasty

The Las Vegas Raiders once had a chance to build a dynasty in the early 2000s, but a series of draft misses prevented it, an argument laid out with a pick-by-pick contrast against what other teams selected next. After early success under Al Davis and John Madden, the franchise struggled to match its ambition. In the 2000s, Oakland chose Napoleon Harris, Robert Gallery, Fabian Washington and JaMarcus Russell—while the very next picks went to Ed Reed, Larry Fitzgerald, Aaron Rodgers and Calvin Johnson. The article notes Oakland’s Super Bowl XXXVII run after the 2002 season, then shows how multiple first-round boards “rolled into a horror loop” from 2002 to 2007. It also highlights that Las Vegas used the 2026 No. 1 pick on quarterback Fernando Mendoza, its first first-round QB since Russell.