Raiders Might Have a Bargaining Chip for Jalen Ramsey that other Interested Teams Don’t

The Raiders may have steep competition for Jalen Ramsey, but they may have a trade chip that none of the competition can offer.

They stink.

Well, at least in the eyes of the rest of the league, the Raiders first-round pick in 2020 should carry a lot more weight than most of the teams they are competing against for Ramsey. Let’s look at the six teams reported yesterday to be in strongest contention for Ramsey.

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles have only the Cowboys to compete against in their division and with a little good fortune, Philadelphia could easily find themselves in the NFC championship game again this year.

Kansas City Chiefs

Andy Reid’s squad would have been in the Super Bowl last year if it weren’t for a dropped interception in the final minutes of the AFC championship game. Kansas City should have equal odds as New England to make the Super Bowl this year.

Baltimore Ravens

Off to a 2-0 start with the hottest quarterback in football and now the Steelers don’t have Ben Roethlisberger. The Ravens will win the AFC North and could end up with a first-round bye in the playoffs, too.

Seattle Seahawks 

The Seahawks are 2-0 and always seem to end up in the playoffs. These rascals have won 10+ games in five of the last six years and the year they didn’t (2017), they won nine. Just by making the playoffs, Seattle would be guaranteed to pick in the 20’s or later in the 2020 draft.

Minnesota Vikings

This might be the only team listed that’s a real threat to end up in the top 15 of the draft. But is anyone picking Minnesota to finish the year with a worse record than the Raiders… and would Ramsey want to re-sign and live only a zip code away from the North Pole? Remember, Ramsey has some say in where he’s traded. If Ramsey isn’t interested in signing a long-term deal with his new team, that team will be far less inclined to offer a top pick to get him.

Oakland Raiders

After a rough outing at home against the Chiefs and arguably the toughest schedule in all of football ahead, most teams will project the Raiders to pick bear the top of the draft again in 2020.

Let’s say the Raiders are projected to draft in the top 10 after the season. That would mean the value of their pick, according to the draft trade chart, would be a minimum of 1300 points (if they owned pick 10). Drop down to pick five and the Raiders pick is worth a whopping 1700 points. Any team picking 21st or later might end up with a first-round pick that doesn’t have even half the value of the Raiders pick.

The 21st pick is worth 800 points, the 26th pick is with 700 points, and the conference championship will have a draft pick worth a maximum of 600 points.

So if there is one team that might not have to throw in an additional first-round pick to get Ramsey. It’s probably the Raiders.

twitter: @raidersbeat