Raiders Are At A Crossroads As Trade Deadline Approaches

The Las Vegas Raiders are winning games, and they’re standing at the crossroads of their season. They’re 3-1, and last Sunday they proved to be surprisingly competitive against the Kansas City Chiefs, who are one of the best teams in the league. 

The preseason over/under for the Raiders had them at six wins, and it’s fairly obvious at this point that they’re capable of more. Maybe not in their next three games against the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams, but seven wins feels very possible, and anything over that gets them in the playoff conversation. 

This comes with a caveat, though. The Raiders have some glaring issues offensively that need to get solved. The receivers were a lackluster group going in the season, and they’ve underperformed even that modest expectation. 

The other need is new. Running back Ashton Jeanty has been hobbled by an ankle and foot injury, and Mike Washington Jr. is a rookie. The Raiders don’t have depth there, so that’s another area that needs to be shored up. 

Would the Raiders go there at the deadline? They should, as even a playoff cameo would be a boon to both the franchise as a whole and this team, provided coach Klint Kubiak can acquire talent without compromising his roster rebuild. 

The trade deadline is on Nov. 10, and Las Vegas should at least be in the mix. The two receivers who should be available based on early rumors are Marvin Harrison Jr. of the Arizona Cardinals and Brian Thomas Jr. of the Jacksonville Jaguars, although Thomas has struggled with drops, which was a problem the Raiders won’t want to add to given Kubiak’s comments on this issue during the preseason. 

The running back question is trickier. We still don’t know who’s going to be out there, as it’s a little early for that sort of thing to be surfacing. A simple depth pickup might suffice if Jeanty recovers and starts running well, but a bigger move could make a difference as well. 

One thing we do know about the trade deadline is that defensive end Maxx Crosby will be sticking around. This was very much in question going into the season, as the Raiders probably would have been ready and willing to move Crosby if they’d been as bad as many of us expected them to be. 

But Crosby has been a leader on a defense that’s forcing turnovers, and there’s no way the Raiders would move him at this point given their record and the possibility of getting back close to .500.