Host Explains Why Raiders Might Have to Unload Jakobi Meyers before the Nov. 4 Trade Deadline

The Raiders have sent the message for several weeks that they aren’t intent on trading Jakobi Meyers, and many believe the team’s approach with Meyers has a lot to do with the potential compensatory pick they could receive if he left in free agency after the season.

Sports Illustrated insider Albert Breer talked about that dynamic this week.

“There haven’t been many calls on [Meyers]. With his deal up, he could bring more in a 2027 comp pick than a ’25 trade,’” Breer said.

But there’s an issue with that line of thinking and flagship radio host Q Myers pointed it out on Monday.

“There’s a problem. The Raiders are comfortable with holding on to [Jakobi Meyers] and getting a compensatory pick if they don’t get the trade capital that they want in return. The problem with that is, they’ve got a lot of money in salary cap space next year, a lot, and we obviously know that they need a lot of talent on this team, so they’re going to be big spenders in free agency next year,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show podcast.

“Well, the compensatory situation is a math problem [because] you basically are rewarded based off of how much you spend and how much you lose. If they go out and spend as much as I anticipate them spending on some big-time free agents… that’s the math problem. And if they spend a lot of money like I anticipate and then they lose Jakobi, then he might end up walking for basically nothing because the math doesn’t math.”

“So it’s a math formula,” Myers continued. “I’m not a math guy, but I could tell you that that’s the problem that they have. They might end up getting into a position where a team knows, ‘Hey, I know they want a day two pick for Jakobi, we’re going to give them a day three and they’re going to take it because they don’t have, too many options.'”

As of now, the Raiders are projected to have the second-most salary cap room in the NFL going into the 2026 season.

According to Spotrac, they are in line to have more than $114 million in cap room in 2026, with only the Tennessee Titans ($118 million) currently having more.

With as many holes at the Raiders’ roster currently has, and so much salary cap room at their disposal, it’s hard to imagine a scenario with they aren’t aggressive when free agency gets underway in five months.

Assuming that happens and Meyers leaves in free agency; it could easily play out that the Raiders won’t end up getting a compensatory pick for him.

And if that’s the case, they may as well just take the best offer for him now, right?

x: @raidersbeat

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