What would a Las Vegas big trade up look like?
The NFL draft is just 23 days away from beginning.
Of course in this community, the excitement about the draft exploded last month in the Las Vegas Raiders’ blockbuster St. Patrick’s Day trade for Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams. The Raiders surrendered their first and second round picks (No. 22 and No. 53) to make Adams the center of their passing game and their top receiving option in two decades.
While losing premium draft picks always stings, that this deal was worth it for the Raiders. Adams is a star and he makes the Raiders an instant Super Bowl threat. Enter your favorite Les Snead meme here …
So yes, it’s worth the loss of the picks. However, that doesn’t mean the Raiders absolutely can’t get into the first round. If new Las Vegas general manager Dave Ziegler and new coach Josh McDaniels get the itch to draft in the first round, there are ways to do it.
FYI: After trading their first and second-round picks to get Davante Adams, the @Raiders are not ruling out moving back up in the draft. As Josh McDaniels alluded, there are a lot of conversations happening in Palm Beach right now.
— Vincent Bonsignore (@VinnyBonsignore) March 28, 2022
Let’s examine:
It would probably have to include next year’s first-round pick, though. And probably Las Vegas’ third-round pick, No. 86, too. And it’s doubtful the Raiders can get higher than No. 23-25 range. The truth is trading as a first-round pick next year has less current value than this year’s first rounders — and considering the Raiders have a chance to be highly successful in 2022, any team trading with the Raiders are probably going to work under the assumption it will be a low 2023 first-round pick.
So the only way the Raiders may be tempted to trade into the first round is to see how the draft board falls on the night of April 28 and see if any players at the top of their board falls and they deem it’s worth mortgaging a 2023 top-pick and their current highest 2022 pick (Las Vegas only has four other draft picks this year) for a player who the Raiders may think is the missing piece to this current roster.
It’s possible and not out of the question. But the odds may be steep that we see Ziegler and McDaniels take this approach.
What do you think. Would this type of aggression be worth it?