The Las Vegas Raiders added plenty of talented first-year players to their roster this offseason, selecting 11 players in the 2025 NFL draft and signing another 17 after they went undrafted.
While there’s rightfully a lot of attention on first-round pick (No. 6 overall) Ashton Jeanty and second-round pick (No. 58 overall) Jack Bech, there are some later selections that will be just as interesting to follow throughout the offseason and into training camp.
One of the most intriguing is sixth-round pick Tommy Mellott, who played quarterback at Montana State from 2020-24. In 39 collegiate games, Mellott completed 64.1% of his passes for 4,745 yards, 39 touchdowns and six interceptions and rushed for 2,847 yards and 38 additional scores.
Mellott won Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year and the Walter Payton Award in 2024 and earned All-Big Sky honors three times and FCS All-American honors once.
Now, Mellott is moving to wide receiver with the Raiders, and he’s getting a ton of work during the team’s latest OTA sessions.
“Sixth-round pick Tommy Mellott got significant action at slot receiver,” The Athletic’s Tashan Reed wrote Wednesday night. “The rookie played quarterback in college but is being converted to receiver. On one rep, he made cornerback Darnay Holmes fall on an in-and-out route before hauling in a pass from Smith and turning upfield.”
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The Raiders have some depth at quarterback with Geno Smith, Aidan O’Connell, Carter Bradley and sixth-round pick Cam Miller in the room, so it wasn’t too surprising that Mellott was moving to a new position.
Behind Bech and Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas’ wide receiver group is pretty open for competition. The other nine wideouts in the room have 123 receptions for 1,554 yards and seven touchdowns between them in the NFL.
If Mellott proves that he’s a legitimate option for Smith to target in 2025, not only could he earn a spot on the roster as a rookie, but he could also earn legitimate playing time on gamedays.
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