The Raiders have the fourth pick in the draft on Friday night and, as usual, teams are trying to move up to the beginning of the second round.
League insider Jordan Schultz reported this morning that the 49ers, Cardinals and Bills have received calls from teams interested in trading up (apparently ahead of the Raiders) and based on a few comments from Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, it sounds like the Raiders have someone they don’t want to miss with the 36th pick.
“They saw some guys go off the board tonight that they really liked, that they hope would slip,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast. “This 36th pick… is going to be super interesting for me. I think there are more guys off the board than they thought would be off the board. I can tell you, I know this factually, there are discussions going on right now… do they need to move up?”
“That’s going on. Doesn’t mean they’re going to. But they’re looking… at everybody’s needs, but they also have to think, ‘Okay, who else is going to move up?’ Who can get a guy in this for a second round price that they have as a first round talent? That’s a big deal here for the Raiders. That is a big deal right now.”
Something we learned a year ago, though, is that GM John Spytek is a master at disseminating bad draft information to the media.
In the hours leading up to the draft in 2025, rumors started swirling that the Raiders were going to take Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. with the no. 6 pick. Todd McShay offered a tip of the cap to Spytek following the draft for throwing off his draft board.
“I want to give a lot of credit, first of all for the espionage, for getting out the late leak that it was going to be Banks [with the no. 6 pick]. John Spytek, I see you,” McShay said on The McShay Show.
Ironically, Banks ended up being one of the NFL’s top performing rookies in 2025, and the Saints ended up getting a great value with Banks at the no. 9 position in the draft.
x: @raidersbeat
Total bullshit.
We are not trading up and losing assets. We would trade down and gain assets if we did any trading.
“They are looking to trade up, but I’m not saying they’re going to.”
And there it is. The typical Hondo Carpenter insider nugget
With the 36th pick of the 2026 NFL Draft the Las Vegas Raiders select Hondo Carpenter, moron from the Lame Brain Junior College.
Do we know how to move up?
Raiders blew the draft after Memdoza.
Just awful and brutal.
Stukes and Zuhn are OLD for rookies. 24.
Crawford is a BACKUP/DEPTH piece.
Spytek can’t draft for shi*. Confirmed.
We got NO STARTERS SO FAR. Mendoza is a year away.
Second draft in a row that confirms John Spytek as the worst drafting general manager in football. This guy couldn’t buy a clue.
Two 24 year old rookies and a backup after drafting Mendoza. No starters.
Holy fukkin ****.
John Spytek how the fukk did you ever be able to get a GM job you fukkin fraud?