Getty New York Jets DL Leonard Williams.
The Oakland Raiders have been very active on the trade market since the start of the season and that hasn’t changed with the recent dealing of Gareon Conley to the Houston Texans. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Sunday that Oakland is going to be actively looking for a pass rusher and/or linebacker on the trade market before the deadline. Trading Conley for a third-round draft pick doesn’t fill those holes, so expect more moves to come.
It seems bizarre to trade one of your starting cornerbacks for a draft pick when you’re in the middle of playoff contention. The only thing that would make sense is that the Raiders made the move to accumulate more assets for trade purposes. Fortunately for Oakland, there should be a few interesting pass rushers that are on the market.
Leonard Williams
If you had a chance to watch Monday night’s game between the New York Jets and New England Patriots, you’d know that the former is a mess. The Jets aren’t going anyway, so they need to start accumulating draft picks. Leonard Williams is one of their best assets and they should consider trading him. The former sixth overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft is a very strong interior pass rusher and wasn’t shy about wanting to be a Raider before he was drafted.
Oakland decided to go with Amari Cooper over Williams, but maybe they can right past wrongs. If he was on a longer contract, it would probably at least take a first-round pick to get him. However, he’s only got 10 games left before he’s a free agent. General manager Mike Mayock should consider offering two of his three 2020 third-round picks for Williams. Mayock was really high on him when he was a draft analyst, so maybe he’d offer the Jets more. It’ll be interesting to see if New York is even willing to listen to offers for him.
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Yannick Ngakoue
Out of all the players on this list, Yannick Ngakoue has proven to be the most consistent threat to sack the quarterback. The Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end has never had less than eight sacks in a season and went to the pro bowl in 2017. The Raiders would kill to have a player who is a lock to get at least eight sacks a season. The Jaguars are struggling and had to trade away Jalen Ramsey. They may not be ready to hit the rebuild button just yet, so Ngakoue will not come cheaply.
Like Williams, Ngakoue is in his contract year so that could affect his worth. The only reason Jacksonville would be interested in trading him is because they already have Calais Campbell and Josh Allen. He held out last summer because the Jaguars aren’t ready to pay him. They don’t really need Ngakoue to generate a pass rush and an extra first-round pick in 2020 could be very enticing for them.
Vic Beasley
The Atlanta Falcons are ready to move on from Vic Beasley and he could come relatively cheaply. The NFL’s sack leader in 2016 hasn’t repeated that production at all in the last two and a half seasons. Just like the last two players already mentioned, Beasley is almost finished up with his contract. However, he has less upside than Williams or Ngakoue. He’s the oldest of the three at 27-years old. The most appealing thing about adding Beasley is that he’d probably only cost a third-round pick. The other two players would almost certainly cost more. Unless he can return to his 2016 form, he won’t be the answer that solves the Raiders’ pass-rushing problems, but a third-round pick is worth the risk.
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