A new 2027 NFL mock draft gives the Las Vegas Raiders a second high lottery ticket: Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith at No. 6 overall. The projection comes from Tim Crean of ClutchPoints, published Thursday as college football’s Week 0 slate opened and the NFL regular season still sat two weekends away.
This is a mock, not a trade or a signed letter of intent. Crean is guessing at next April’s order based on how he thinks the 2026 NFL season will shake out. Sportsbooks currently price Las Vegas around a 5.5-win total and +15000 to win Super Bowl LXI, per Sporting News. That market view is why a top-10 pick in 2027 is even in the conversation.
The Raiders already used the No. 1 overall pick in April on Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner who led the Hoosiers to a national title, as NFL.com reported on draft night. He signed a four-year, $57.27 million rookie contract in July, according to the Associated Press. Veteran Kirk Cousins is listed as the starter on the team’s unofficial depth chart heading into Thursday night’s preseason finale against San Francisco, with Mendoza behind him, per Raiders.com.
Why Smith at No. 6 is the hook
Crean’s case is blunt. He wrote that Smith can be an elite NFL receiver immediately and that if he is available at six, “the Raiders will run his name to the podium,” according to ClutchPoints.
That last part is the analysis, not a league announcement. Smith is widely treated as the best player in the 2027 class, even if quarterbacks often go first on draft night. The Athletic’s Nick Baumgardner ranked him No. 1 on a preseason 2027 board. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. and Field Yates both put Smith first on their early top-10 lists, as Bleacher Report documented this month. The Athletic also named him the No. 1 player in college football entering 2026.
The production matches the billing. Smith has 163 catches for 2,558 yards and 27 touchdowns in two Ohio State seasons, per Sports-Reference and the Ohio State athletics site. He was a first-team All-American as a freshman in 2024 and a unanimous All-American in 2025.
| Season | Rec | Yards | Avg | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 (FR) | 76 | 1,315 | 17.3 | 15 |
| 2025 (SO) | 87 | 1,243 | 14.3 | 12 |
| Career | 163 | 2,558 | 15.7 | 27 |
The signature play is already two seasons old. In the January 2025 CFP title game, Will Howard hit Smith for 56 yards on third-and-11 late against Notre Dame, a catch that set up the field goal that closed Ohio State’s 34-23 win, as Sporting News reported at the time. Smith finished that night with five catches for 88 yards and a touchdown.
Talk that he would have been a high first-round pick after his freshman year if the NFL’s age rule allowed it remains speculation. What is confirmed is the résumé: Big Ten Receiver of the Year twice, freshman records at Ohio State, and two years as the most covered wideout in the conference.
What it would mean in Las Vegas
The Raiders do not have a finished receiver room. Tre Tucker, Jalen Nailor, and Jack Bech sit atop the unofficial chart, with tight end Brock Bowers as the offense’s clearest pass-catching star, according to the team’s preseason depth chart and the club’s own receiver preview. That group can function. It is not a finished pairing for a former No. 1 quarterback in Year 2.
Scheme is the other half. Klint Kubiak’s staff has kept Cousins first on the depth chart while giving Mendoza more work as camp closed, a split The Athletic described at the start of camp. If Mendoza is the starter by 2027, Smith’s size (listed 6-foot-3, 223) and deep speed would give him an outside X who can win the same man-coverage looks Ohio State kept hunting.
None of that is scheduled. Smith still has a 2026 college season to play. The Raiders still have 17 regular-season games that will decide whether they pick sixth, first, or outside the top 10. Crean’s board is one early map, published the same day Las Vegas closes preseason against the 49ers.
