The Raiders are currently in the midst of a rebuild of epic proportions — a complete tear-down and vetting of the roster, under the team’s new regime, now led by Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock.
Having two of football’s brightest minds as far as personnel is concerned should certainly help, and the team’s approach — trading away stars for draft picks — will give them plenty of options to draft young talent. It’ll put a lot of pressure on them in the draft, that’s for sure, but it’s the right approach.
The Raiders finished with a 4-12 record last season, and it’s expected they won’t be much better in their 2019 campaign, given the shape of their roster, and that’s OK. They’re building for a better future. But one piece of interesting news makes us believe that the team could be looking to win sooner than later, and it’s worth nothing. The Raiders are apparently interested in trading for wide receiver Antonio Brown.
Add the #Raiders to this, along with several others. There is a market developing. https://t.co/8rcEHVV1iW
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 1, 2019
This is definitely surprising. The team would likely have to give up at a first-round draft pick, which they can certainly do, but it doesn’t seem to fit the team’s model for building the team going forward. This rebuild wasn’t going to happen overnight, and another year of being bad and stockpiling draft pick, while developing young players, would appear to be the more sensible plan. But adding a player like Brown could help sell tickets and merchandise, so maybe that’s playing a role here, too. It’s fair to question how motivated Brown would be if traded to a team that won four games last season, though.
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