Shocking: New Rumor Suggests Raiders Stole a Player from the 49ers with all Three 3rd-Round Picks
Last week, it was reported in the Bay Area that the Raiders might have “swiped” two players the San Francisco 49ers were looking to draft in the third round.
49ers insider Matt Barrows believes San Francisco was targeting Texas Tech OL Caleb Rogers and William & Mary OT Charles Grant with the no. 100 pick in the draft but watched both players get scooped up by the Raiders in the two picks ahead of them.
“The 49ers spent a lot of time with both of those guys [Rogers and Grant],” Barrows said on The TK Show. “They actually brought in Caleb Rogers for a visit. I think the 49ers thought one of those guys was going to be there and that old Pete Carroll did a number on them… I do think they did intend to take a tackle on day 2 and the guy got swiped.”
If that story wasn’t enough, it sounds like the Raiders might have undercut the 49ers for a player at the beginning of the third round, too.
Iowa State cornerback Darien Porter was a player heavily linked to the 49ers ahead of the draft and it was rumored they were targeting Porter with the 11th pick in the third round.
Unfortunately for the Faithful, the Raiders took Porter with the third pick in the third round and according to at least one 49ers feed, the Niners were calling teams at the time trying to move up to get Porter.
It’s not a rock-solid source, but what a story it would be if the Raiders stole players from the 49ers with all three picks in the third round.
It will be interesting to see if Porter is linked to the 49ers anymore going forward, but the more time goes by, the better the Porter pick is starting to look.
“Darien Porter, I think that is my favorite Raiders draft pick. Obviously, [Ashton] Jeanty has a ton of hype, but rarely do you see a 6’3 guy be able to run a 4.3 [forty],” The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen said on the Just Win Podcast last week.
“And then you look at his film and he has very limited time playing the position. He transitioned from wide receiver in 2022, didn’t get into the rotation until last year, and he played limited snaps. It’s not like he was a full-time starter, but those snaps you could see [his] recovery speed, he has really good footwork for a guy of his size, and he was rarely challenged. Guys didn’t want to throw to him because he’s a 6’3 corner, he sticky, if he got beat because of bad footwork or whatever, he was able to recover.”
“I could see why he fell to the third round because you had corners with some traits that had more experience that got picked ahead of him. But when you look at projects, I think this is a very well worth it project… I really like what I see from him.”
And prior to the draft ESPN’s Jeff Legwold named Porter one of the seven fastest risers in the entire 2025 draft class.
Also on Legwold’s list was TCU wide receiver Jack Bech, who was drafted by the Raiders just ahead of Porter in the second round
