The Raiders are two games into the preseason and their depth chart finally seems to be coming together.
Going into training camp, there were concerns about what the roster was going to look like at cornerback and wide receiver, and Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter hinted over the weekend that the decision makers in Las Vegas could soon be active at both positions.
“There are concerns at corner, absolutely no doubt,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“I can tell you I would not be shocked with a Raiders trade at wide receiver or corner right now. I’m just tell you… I would not be surprised,” Carpenter continued with a wink. “I don’t think anything is imminent, so don’t take the wink as imminent, but if they are able to make a deal, remember I told you that first.”
As of now, the Raiders have rookies at the top of the depth chart at wide receiver and cornerback, and neither Dont’e Thornton nor Darien Porter have necessarily played like starters in the preseason. Both have shown flashes, but neither have been consistent.
Making the situation at cornerback even more complicated is the fact the Raiders traded one of last year’s starters in Jakorian Bennett to the Philadelphia Eagles.
At wide receiver, Jakobi Meyers is the clear no. 1 and he is going into the last year of the deal he signed with the Raiders two years ago. That’s going to be a situation to monitor because it sounds like Meyers might be getting a little restless with his contract situation.
Vegas beat writer Levi Damien asked Meyers last week how much he would like to remain with the team after the season and the veteran wide receiver’s answer was notable.
“As much as they want me here,” Meyers answered quickly. “That’s really all I can say about that.”
It’s not something that has been talked about to this point, but if Meyers were to initiate a holdout before the start of the season, it would definitely put the Raiders in a tough spot.
Without Meyers, the wide receiver room in Las Vegas would become the most unproven in the NFL – and there’s a chance that might be the case even with him in the mix.
x: @raidersbeat
I can’t understand why they gave away Bennett knowing they were weak at corner. Now they are going to have to give up assets or draft picks. ****, this regime looks like same old Raiders. I wasn’t happy picking up the oldest coach in the league with a rah rah mentality after getting dumped by Seattle and then hiring his son to coach a pivotal position like the oline after spending our first pick on a running back. Hoping for the best, fearing for the worst.
Why trade Bennett ?? Same ole Raiders move !!!!!
We gave a starter for maybe a special teams player or maybe a player who doesn’t make the roster.
Bennett was always hurt, youre of no value if you can’t stay on the field
Plenty of value it appears for the Eagles. Hurt or injury prone players have value as long as their talent is still there. A torn ACL would obviously diminish a players value but that wasn’t the case. The biggest talent deficiency from Bennett was his size. Possible starter or nickel for a possible 4th or 5th interior DL is and will always be a terrible value trade.
He’s already hurt in Philly anyways. I wish people stop crying about 5 weeks of work. ****.
The Raiders have a great many needs all over the team. Not just WR and CB. They need a good young QB to groom. They should trade for Dillion Gabriel. The Browns don’t need him and Sanders and I think they would rather keep Sanders. Could get him cheap and to me should have drafted him. The kid they have is cool but not the answer. Geno definitely isn’t!! He is no better than Derrick Carr and that’s the truth. We have already seen that Aiden O’Connell is no more than a career backup player. We could get a good player next year at the position because I bet you we will have one of the worst records in the NFL once again for the 20th to the 25th year in a row!!
He’s to **** small himself. We’ve seen that shorter successful QBs are few far and in between as usual. We stay with AIC and Miller and groom them in the same system longer than a year. Five different play callers for Aiden in three years??
Booker will surprise and be very valuable on DL. Hope for the best for Bennet.
Raiders draft mistakes were drafting AJ 1st. Bech 2nd. 1st pick should have been OL, 2nd, RJ Harvey. Sure they couldn’t know Harvey would be there, still,Bech not a 2nd round talent.