Trade Pitch Has Raiders Land 24-Year-Old Former 1st-Round Pick WR

Getty. Tennessee Titans WR Treylon Burks.

The Las Vegas Raiders are very thin at wide receiver with Jakobi Meyers still dealing with an ankle injury and Davante Adams now playing for the New York Jets. Tre Tucker showed promise as a No. 3 wide receiver but he hasn’t been up for the task of being the top option.

The Raiders aren’t likely to take on an expensive veteran but they could buy-low on a young wide receiver who hasn’t reached his potential. ESPN’s Ben Solak pitched the idea of Las Vegas trading for Tennesee Titans wide receiver Treylon Burks.

“Titans wide receiver Treylon Burks,” Solak wrote in an October 23 column. “With the departure of Adams and absence of tight end Michael Mayer, the Raiders have a lot of targets available. Burks never hit for the Titans as an A.J. Brown replacement, but I’m still interested in the designed-touch and shot-play potential of a highly-explosive 225-pound receiver. Burks would slide into the WR3 role behind Jakobi Meyers and Tre Tucker, but he could also continue to get looks on special teams as a returner. But first, he’d need to get healthy; he is out with a knee injury.”

The Titans are one of the few teams in the NFL with a worse record than the Raiders and have already traded away star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. They could be sellers at the trade deadline.

Does Treylon Burks Still Have Upside?

Burks came into the NFL as a first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He was highly productive in college at Arkansas and was named First-Team All-SEC in 2021. However, that success hasn’t translated at the NFL level.

He missed six games in each of his first two seasons and is currently injured again. When he has been healthy, he hasn’t been successful as he only has 699 receiving yards in 27 career games. That said, he’s still only 24 and hasn’t had a chance to be healthy for a full season.

It’s still possible that there’s untapped potential there. For the Raiders, this would be a low-risk move. It’s hard to imagine the Titans would expect a big return if they were to trade him. He could probably be had for a little as a fifth-round pick. Plus, he’d be under contract for next season. The Raiders are likely going to draft a quarterback next year and need to make sure that whoever he is will have good players to throw to.

Raiders Recently Signed Terrace Marshall Jr.

The Raiders just recently took a flyer on a wide receiver who hasn’t lived up to his draft status. Former second-round pick Terrace Marshall Jr. hasn’t done much at the NFL level and has been sitting around in free agency.

Las Vegas recently decided to sign him to the practice squad. Marshall has some good size and speed but only has 64 catches in three seasons. He may be on the practice squad but he could be taking snaps for the Raiders soon if Meyers doesn’t get healthy.

The offense is going to struggle due to quarterback issues but there’s an opportunity for some young wide receivers to prove they can be playmakers.