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The Las Vegas Raiders just made a trade for linebacker Denzel Perryman but he has an injury history. With Nicholas Morrow out for an unspecified amount of time and Perryman’s past injury concerns, the team may try to fortify their linebacker corps even further. The Dallas Cowboys could be an intriguing trade partner.
They have no shortage of linebacker talent when their players stay healthy. Micah Parsons, Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith could form the NFL’s best linebacker corps. Despite that, the team signed Keanu Neal and also drafted Jabril Cox this offseason. With the linebacker room getting crowded an expensive player like Smith could be on the chopping block. Patrik Walker of CBS Sports believes the Cowboys should trade Smith to the Raiders for Brandon Parker and a late-round pick:
It’s key to note general manager Mike Mayock was very high on Smith during the draft process in 2016, and so was Rod Marinelli — the latter having gone on to coach Smith for multiple seasons before joining the Raiders. The two teams have quite the wormhole established as far as the Raiders having interest in current and former Cowboys players/coaches. And given the Raiders need at linebacker, in combination with what I just noted, they should call Dallas with an offer that includes backup tackle Brandon Parker to help the Cowboys with their dire need behind Tyron Smith and La’el Collins.
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Smith Not as Valuable as He Once Was
On the surface, the Raiders giving up a player on the roster bubble like Parker and a late-round draft pick sounds like a small price to pay for a 26-year-old who is just a season removed from a Pro Bowl. However, the situation is a little more complicated than that. In 2019, the Cowboys handed him a massive five-year contract extension worth $64 million. At the time, that could’ve been justified as he was playing at an elite level.
Now it looks like one of the worst contracts on the team. He put up an 84.0 grade on Pro Football Focus in 2018, then dropped to 70.2 in 2019 and graded at a 54.2 last season. Smith’s contract would be a big price for the Raiders to pay for a player with diminishing returns.
Rod Marinelli Could Campaign for Smith
Now, Smith’s down year in 2020 could be attributed to the Cowboys’ defense as a whole taking a major step back. Mike Nolan was hired to take over for Rod Marinelli as defensive coordinator. Marinelli went to coach defensive linemen with the Raiders and Nolan was fired after one abysmal season.
Smith had his best years under Marinelli. Though Gus Bradley is the Raiders’ defensive coordinator, there’s no doubt that Marinelli has a lot of pull within the defense. Perhaps he is a big fan of Smith and would like to see him in silver and black. That’s certainly possible but his contract is a big pill to swallow and the Raiders lack cap space. Unless there were more injuries to occur, it’s hard to see Las Vegas making a trade for Smith.
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