Mailbag: Who could be on trading block?

Returning Raider Nation’s questions for the week

We’ve hit Week 7 on the schedule and while the Las Vegas Raiders have a matchup with the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, that almost feels an afterthought at this point. The Raiders’ season isn’t going well and now that the Davante Adams trade is official, most people are focused on the future and offseason or this week’s mailbag.

Q: Who else might the Raiders unload via trade this season?

A: I’ll start by addressing the elephant in the room when it comes to this topic. I’d be pretty shocked if Maxx Crosby got traded.

If anything, I’d hope that Mark Davis would learn his lesson from the Khalil Mack trade and at least wait until the offseason when the NFL Draft order is set to deal Crosby rather than sending him to the Lions (or whoever) mid-season. But again, I think Crosby will stay in Las Vegas as long as he wants to.

A couple of guys who I think could be on the trade block though are Robert Spillane and Tre’von Moehrig since both are in contract years.

Spillane will be 29 later this year so he’s not exactly a spring chicken who will likely be part of the long-term plans. Also, he currently leads the league in tackles and could be valuable to a team that needs linebackers, and the Raiders might want to give young backers Tommy Eichenberg and Amari Gainer more reps down the stretch.

Moehrig would be a harder sell since he hasn’t been playing well this season, but he does have a decent track record if a contending team needs safety help or has an injury. Plus, the front office might want to see what Chris Smith II can do and Trey Taylor recently started practicing to add another young safety into the mix.

Jakobi Meyers could be a potential bargaining chip too, but Meyers is under contract for next season so it’s less likely he gets traded. Additionally, outside of Tre Tucker who is already getting more playing time with Adams gone, the roster doesn’t have a lot of young and notable wide receivers as it does at safety and linebacker.

A: Per Over The Cap, Crosby is the ninth-highest-paid edge defender on a dollar-per-year basis, so I think Mark Davis will fatten Crosby’s wallet as a show of good faith if he is willing to stick it out through another rebuild.

I know Maxx said he’s not here to rebuild but let’s be honest, that’s the direction this team is going. In my opinion, giving him a raise is their best chance at keeping him around and happy over the next couple of years, and he’s a player you want to build around rather than let go.

As for your second question, only Crosby is qualified to answer that one.

Q: Should the Raiders bring back Hunter Renfrow who would help out Aidan O’Connell? He is a super smart player and they didn’t call him “Third and Renfrow” for nothing.

Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

A: I was a big fan of Renfrow’s game and while Las Vegas could use some help at wide receiver, there’s a reason why he’s not even on another team’s practice squad right now. His tape was pretty ugly last year as he didn’t have the same quickness that earned him the “Third and Renfrow” nickname.

I don’t hate the idea of bringing Renfrow back, but I wouldn’t count on it as the team looks to build for the future.

Q: Who’s your pick to be the Raiders next QB?

A: A lot can change between now and draft day, but I’m still on the Cam Ward hype train. I like what he brings to the table when it comes to off-script plays, and he’s shown a lot of growth as a processor and when it comes to operating out of the pocket.

As mentioned last week, Shedeur Sanders has grown on me too this season, but Ward is still my guy…right now.

A: It’s not as good as last year’s but there are a few guys to keep tabs on over the next few months. The two mentioned above, Carson Beck from Georgia and Quinn Ewers from Texas. I’m not a big believer in Alabama’s Jalen Milroe with his accuracy issues, but Milroe could be in the mix as well.

A: It’s too early for me to answer the first question as I’d want to know the draft order and do a deeper dive into the quarterback class to have a better feel for how many legit options the Raiders will have.

For the second, I could see Davis moving on from Antonio Pierce and the entire coaching staff for that reason. But I would have an issue with Davis giving Pierce and Luke Getsy a year to work with a new QB and see how that goes. That’s what the organization did with Dennis Allen and Greg Olson when Derek Carr was drafted and working with a bad coaching staff for just one year didn’t hinder Carr’s development much.

A: #TeamTank.

Being mediocre has forced the Raiders to settle for Jimmy Garoppolo and Gardner Minshew as their offseason quarterback additions. So I’ll take my chances with a rookie that the organization doesn’t have to sell the farm for. That way the front office still has high picks in the second round and beyond to build out the rest of the roster even if the quarterback doesn’t work out. But they won’t have that luxury if they have to give up more picks to get a quarterback.

Q: How much influence will Tom Brady and Richard Seymour have in offseason hires do you think?

A: According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore, Brady will be another person in Mark Davis’ ear to help make football decisions and it sounds like he’ll have a fairly prominent role.

If Tom Brady’s long pursuit of a minority ownership share of the Raiders is approved as expected, the former NFL star quarterback is anticipated to have a prominent voice in the team’s football operation.

…But, as a league source indicated, it’s less about how much of the team Brady is buying and more about Davis’ respect for Brady, who also owns a share of the Aces, Davis’ WNBA franchise.

“It doesn’t matter what percentage he owns. It’s the percentage that the owner entrusts him to advise and help make football decisions,” a league source said. “And I think Mark will give him a long leash with that.”

As for Seymour, he might have some say and be another sounding board, but it seems like his investment is more financial. At least compared to Brady’s situation.

A: I’ve gotten a few questions recently about Patrick Graham getting fired, so I can’t say that I agree that he’s escaping all scrutiny. Also, I think it’s just assumed that if Antonio Pierce gets fired, Graham will go with him. A new head coach will likely want to pick his defensive coordinator and it would be a different situation than last offseason assuming the Raiders go with an outside hire.

To defend Graham a bit, the defense was good for the entire season last year and not just in the nine-game stretch. Also, injuries have crushed the defense as guys like Malcolm Koonce and Christian Wilkins were big reasons for optimism heading into the year. While Las Vegas is 27th in points allowed right now, they’re 12th in yards given up. That’s a pretty dramatic difference as the offense has put the defense in several bad spots this year.

In my opinion, Graham deserves some blame but he is low on the totem pole when it comes to the Raiders’ problems right now.

A: I like where your head is at. It can’t hurt to at least try these things! Lol.

That’ll do it for this week’s mailbag. Thank you all for submitting questions and, as your weekly reminder, if you’d like to have your questions answered in a future column, tweet them at me, @MHolder95, email them to [email protected] or look for our weekly call for questions on the site. The latter will continue to publish on Thursdays.