The Raiders announced the signing of two more draft picks, putting seven of their 10 selections under contract. Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick, remains one of the three players unsigned.
The Raiders signed third-round offensive guard Trey Zuhn III and seventh-round defensive tackle Brandon Cleveland.
Zuhn III played five seasons at Texas A&M, seeing action in 54 games with 50 starts over his collegiate career. In 2025, he earned All-SEC first-team honors and was co-winner of the Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the top SEC offensive lineman after starting all 13 games, including 11 starts at left tackle and two starts at center.
Cleveland spent all four seasons at North Carolina State and played 45 career games with 26 starts. He finished with 107 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, six sacks, one pass defensed, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
Cleveland appeared in every game for the Wolfpack over his past three seasons, including 13 games in 2025, totaling 36 tackles, seven tackles for loss and two sacks.
The Raiders earlier signed second-round safety Treydan Stukes, fourth-round running back Mike Washington Jr., fifth-round safety Dalton Johnson, fifth-round cornerback Hezekiah Masses and sixth-round wide receiver Malik Benson.
The Raiders have signed five of their 10 draft picks, the team announced Thursday.
The signees include second-round safety Treydan Stukes.
Stukes appeared in 52 games over six seasons at Arizona and recorded 206 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, a sack, seven interceptions and 35 passes defensed.
The Raiders also signed fourth-round running back Mike Washington Jr., fifth-round safety Dalton Johnson, fifth-round cornerback Hezekiah Masses and sixth-round wide receiver Malik Benson.
Washington played his final college season at Arkansas after one season at New Mexico State (2024) and three years at Buffalo (2021-23). In his career, he registered 587 rushing attempts for 2,914 yards and 26 touchdowns in addition to 73 receptions for 470 yards and three scores.
Johnson played five seasons at Arizona, appearing in 50 games and totaling 286 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, three sacks, five interceptions, 10 passes defensed and seven forced fumbles.
Masses played three seasons at Florida International before transferring to California for his senior season. He appeared in 49 games over his college career, totaling 152 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, seven interceptions , 25 passes defensed, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.
Benson began his collegiate career at Hutchinson Community College (2021-22) before transferring to Alabama (2023) for one season, Florida State for one season (2024) and then to Oregon for his final season (2025). He played 41 career games over his final three seasons and finished with 81 receptions for 1,192 yards and eight receiving touchdowns.
The Raiders announced a change to their roster on Thursday afternoon.
They have released veteran linebacker Jamin Davis. The team did not announce any corresponding moves, but the spot could be filled before or after this weekend’s rookie mincamp.
Davis signed to the practice squad last October and appeared in two games during the season. He had three tackles in those appearances.
Washington drafted Davis in the first round in 2021 and he appeared in 50 games before being cut during the 2024 season. He played in five games for the Vikings, but was released again before the end of the season.
There has been much made about Tom Brady’s involvement — or lack thereof — with the Raiders since he became a minority owner of the franchise.
But even as Brady’s presence hovers over the franchise, General Manager John Spytek and head coach Klint Kubiak feel they can do what they need to do on a daily basis to run the franchise.
Spytek addressed this fact this week in an interview with Up & Adams when host Kay Adams asked if it’ll be difficult to keep Brady out of the QBs room.
“I don’t think it’s going to be hard,” Spytek said. “We both welcome Tom’s insight and his input. But at the same time, I would say Tom has empowered us to run the day-to-day of the Raiders the way that we see fit. And obviously with the right vision and process in place, we’re going to be a very process-driven organization right now. And I think that wouldn’t surprise anybody with the way that Tom has operated throughout his career.
“But I think that Klint and I both feel the support that he’s given us to do the day-to-day stuff the right way and to accentuate the right things, to hold people accountable, especially the quarterback room. There’s no more important room in our building from a players stand point than the quarterback room — everybody knows that. It’s the hardest position in sports to play. So, there’s going to be a high level of accountability and demand that comes with that. But, I think we both are just very appreciative of the way Tom operates and the insights and the knowledge he shares with us. But also, the way that he allows us to do things the right way day-to-day.”
There’s a lot to be determined when it comes to Mendoza’s success and the larger success of the Raiders in the coming season and going forward. But it appears Spytek and Kubiak are going to bear much of the responsibility for the team’s results.
Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza says his clean-cut image shouldn’t be misinterpreted: He’s not always a nice guy.
Asked about what kind of team leader he is, Mendoza says that in leading Indiana to a national championship last season, he sometimes had to get on his teammates’ case, and that’s not something he’s afraid to do.
“If you ask my teammates . . . I wasn’t always a nice guy, I was an a-hole sometimes because I wanted everyone to do their one-eleventh, everyone to do their job, hold everyone to a high standard,” Mendoza told Raiders.com. “However, coming into a new organization, starting from the bottom of the totem pole, I believe that leadership is earned, not given.”
Mendoza said he knows that “I’ve come off as very humble, and pretty fuzzy and warm,” but that outward appearance can be deceiving.
After spending time at the Raiders’ facility following the draft, Mendoza spoke about wanting to return the franchise to its glory years. Those great Raiders teams of old were known for having plenty of a-holes. Mendoza thinks he can be the next great a-hole to wear the Silver and Black.
