The Las Vegas Raiders' front office spent the offseason making wholesale moves to improve its roster in its first season under head coach Klint Kubiak. John Spytek and the Raiders dished out big bucks to improve nearly every position group on the team.
The only two positions the Raiders didn't add talent to were the two positions where they have two of the league's best players: tight end and punter. Even though Las Vegas made plenty of progress this offseason, its roster rebuild will take years to finish. This matters for multiple reasons.
Las Vegas made enough progress on its roster in one offseason that it has little room to add more talent this season without it hurting them in one aspect or another. If the Raiders trade a player away, it could impact the foundation Kubiak and his staff are building.
After the roster changes the Raiders made and the work the team put in on the field this offseason, I don't believe the Raiders should trade away any player, even when the deadline arrives on Nov. 10. To do so would be hasty. After the season would be a different story.
Of course, if the Raiders get a big offer for a major draft haul or players in return, it goes without saying that they should consider it and probably make the trade. However, they should refuse anything except an offer they cannot refuse.
Still, the trade deadline is approaching, and teams will undoubtedly keep discussing offers. Spytek has said in the past that he is open to hearing trade offers, both big and small. Even during his first season at the helm, Las Vegas struck a deal for a contributor in exchange for an often-injured player.
Spytek was also close to pulling off the trade of the offseason, ahead of having the best free-agency signing period and one of the best draft hauls in the league. I do not believe they should make a trade, but it is unquestionably on the table, as the Raiders sit at 3-3 on the season.
Las Vegas has lost three straight games. Two of those three losses came against the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills by six points combined. The Raiders' two losses to the Chiefs and Bills showed how close they are to regularly competing against, and eventually beating. the league's elite.
Their loss to the New England Patriots showed how far they are from doing so. All three losses make it fair for the front office to consider a trade. However, Kubiak knows the Raiders do not take the field on Sundays to almost win. A trade could help Las Vegas take an even bigger step this season.
“It's such a competitive game, and if you're just hoping to keep it close in the fourth quarter, that's not a winning mindset. So, just having the mindset when you have an opportunity to make a play, when you're playing complementary football on one side of the ball, special teams gives you good field position, you got to go score on that drive,” Kubiak said earlier this week.
“Defense gets a turnover; you got to go score on that drive. If there's a sudden change defensively, then we got to get a stop. So, just having the ultimate competitor's mindset of not being okay with having the game be close in the fourth quarter. That's not what we're here to do.”
Surprise, Surprise
Technically, one player who could be traded - and it would be a significant surprise - is offensive tackle Kolton Miller. Yet the way his contract is structured for both this season and next season eliminates him from the conversation.
The bigger surprise would be to see offensive lineman Jackson Powers-Johnson traded. Offseason rumblings and Caleb Rogers starting over Powers-Johnson in Week 6 may make this seem like less of a surprise. He is a very tradeable piece, but it would still be a surprise because of the timing.
Yet if those reasons make him potentially being traded not a surprise, Las Vegas trading him before the trade deadline, with the depth they have at the offensive guard position without Powers-Johnson, should outweigh those offseason rumblings and Rogers starting last week by a large margin.
He has plenty to improve upon, but teams in the league have a backup offensive guard as good as Powers-Johnson. Maybe adding a high-end veteran guard and another serviceable guard after the season, while continuing to develop Powers-Johnson, is the answer.
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