The Raiders have found a strange little sweet spot with the Jets, and John Spytek just worked it again.
On roster cutdown day, Las Vegas sent Jordan Meredith and a 2029 seventh-round pick to New York in exchange for a 2027 sixth-round pick. It was the same basic move the Raiders pulled in March, when they dealt Geno Smith and a seventh-rounder to the Jets for a sixth-rounder just under 24 hours before the 2026 league year started.
Same team. Same kind of package. Same result for the Raiders: another late-round pick upgrade and another piece they weren’t planning to keep anyway turned into value.
That’s what makes this so useful for Las Vegas. Neither Smith nor Meredith fit into the Raiders’ plans for 2026 and beyond, but the Jets still felt enough urgency to send back a better pick before either player reached the open market. For Spytek, that’s the kind of business you keep making every time it’s offered.
The Smith deal already looked like a win for the Raiders, and this one follows the same script. New York paid the same price for a starting quarterback as it did for an offensive line depth piece, which is a pretty wild bit of symmetry even if contract details helped shape the numbers.
From the Raiders’ side, getting anything back for either player is a strong outcome. Smith was the NFL’s worst quarterback a year ago, and Meredith finished as the fifth-worst-graded center by Pro Football Focus in 2025. Yet Las Vegas still moved up a round in the draft in both trades.
Meredith’s exit also made sense on the roster front. The Raiders added Tyler Linderbaum this offseason, brought in Spencer Burford, and drafted Trey Zuhn III, leaving Meredith without a clear path in the offensive line room.
That said, he wasn’t a total non-factor. Meredith played well at guard in 2024 when he was asked to step in, and the issue was the move to center, where he clearly wasn’t in the best spot to succeed.
The Jets, meanwhile, have a clearer need for interior offensive line depth than the Raiders do, which gives Meredith a better shot at seeing the field in New York. His departure also clears about $3.5 million in cap space for Las Vegas, money Spytek and company can use elsewhere.
So Meredith joins Parham and Smith in New York, and the Raiders add another sixth-round pick to the pile. For a team that keeps turning Jets urgency into draft value, that’s a pretty good trick.
In Other News...
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The move on Slone can be read as a vote of confidence in veteran Patrick Johnson, who has worked to carve out a role in the outside linebacker mix. It also hints that Keyron Crawfords injury may not be as serious as some feared, though the Raiders have not offered any official update on Crawfords status, leaving a little uncertainty in a spot where every available body matters. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Could Find A Sneaky Roster Upgrade When Cuts Begin
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Several names could be in that mix, including Davis Allen, Darius Slayton, Christian Kirk, Kris Jenkins Jr., Rayshaun Benny and Cole Wisniewski. Not every cut becomes a fit, of course, but this is the part of roster season when teams can patch a weakness without waiting for a trade or a larger move, and the Raiders could find a sneaky addition if the right player shakes loose. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Face Aidan OConnell Decision As Quarterback Room Stays Unsettled
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There is also a larger market factor hanging over the conversation, with Kirk Cousins the subject of trade speculation before the November deadline. If that situation shifts, OConnell could become even more valuable to the Raiders as an insurance policy, which makes this less about one backup role and more about how long Las Vegas wants to keep its quarterback room stable. [Read more 🡒]