The Raiders’ season has gone from bright start to trade-deadline watch in a hurry.
Las Vegas opened 3-0 with wins over the Dolphins, Chargers and Saints, but four straight losses have changed the conversation around the team. What looked like a possible step forward has now put the Silver and Black in position to think about moving players before the Nov. 10 trade deadline.
That possibility got more real on Wednesday, when ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler listed 25 players who could be available and included two Raiders on the group.
One name on Fowler’s list is Kirk Cousins, and the fit makes sense on paper because Las Vegas has an unusual quarterback mix. The Raiders have Cousins, Fernando Mendoza and Aidan O’Connell on the roster. Mendoza has not started a game, while O’Connell already has a solid amount of starting experience with the Raiders.
Head coach Klint Kubiak said earlier this week that Mendoza will play at some point this season, and if the losses keep piling up, that could happen sooner than later. Moving Cousins would also line up with O’Connell’s resume as both a starter and backup.
Fowler mentioned the Panthers, Giants and Vikings as possible landing spots for the 38-year-old quarterback. Carolina does not look like a natural match, since the Panthers appear comfortable with Young.
New York also feels like a stretch after the Giants recently acquired JJ McCarthy from the Vikings, and they are already using their third different starting quarterback of the season. That would only make sense if the Giants wanted another layer of insurance.
Minnesota is the most interesting of the three. The Vikings are 6-0, but Kyler Murray has not done much to impress as the starter. If Kevin O’Connell decides Murray is slowing the team down, Cousins could be headed back to Minnesota.
The other Raider Fowler flagged is Jackson Powers-Johnson, and that one tracks for a different reason. Las Vegas has been a mess on the interior offensive line, and that has fed directly into the team’s problems running the ball. Powers-Johnson was benched in Week 6, and with so many teams hunting for help inside, he has become a realistic trade name.
The market has already shown what teams are willing to do, too. Quenton Nelson was traded on Tuesday, and while Powers-Johnson is nowhere close to Nelson’s level, the move underscores how badly clubs around the league want interior line help right now.
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McDaniels and Ziegler, meanwhile, were looking at the bigger picture and chose to prioritize a look at other players for the future. Carr has said he is on good terms with McDaniels now, but the fit between quarterback and coaching staff never really clicked in Las Vegas, and this latest account only reinforces how messy that split became. [Read more 🡒]