Nick Bosa At The Top Of The Raiders Draft Board?

As the NFL rumor season is concerned, the last week in Indianapolis was the annual kickoff of a new season. As much anything going on at the combine, it’s a great place for coaches, scouts, and members of the media to exchange information without a paper (or digital) trail of sorts.

Among the rumors around the Raiders over the past week was, of course, a Derek Carr trade rumor (those have been harder to kill than a cockroach), a few good sound bites from Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock, and a theory on the player at the top of the Raiders draft board.

“I heard at one point here [the Raiders] asked the Cardinals what it would take to move up to the No. 1 spot in the draft,” The Athletic’s Vic Tafur reported on Sunday. “That seems to be a moot point, if the Cardinals are taking Murray, as the 49ers would clearly pounce on Ohio State pass rusher Nick Bosa. He is, I believe, the No. 1 player on the Raiders’ draft board.“

Realistically, the cost to move up to the first pick won’t make a lot of sense for the Raiders, and the notion was probably more a matter of due diligence than anything else.

Just a guess, but don’t look for the Raiders to fall in love with a wide receiver with the earliest of their first-round picks. The Raiders top receiver in 2019 isn’t yet on the roster and he probably isn’t coming via the draft. Antonio Brown and Odell Beckham Jr. still look like they are going to be on the move at some point and the Raiders obviously have the trade collateral to get a deal done… and it’s still a bit of a mystery why the Bengals haven’t shopped A.J. Green in his contract year.

There are also a few out there saying the Raiders may choose not to spend big this offseason. The thinking being that they’ll be much more aggressive in the offseason before their first year in Las Vegas.

twitter: @raidersbeat