The Las Vegas Raiders’ Week 9 game against the San Francisco 49ers could determine how active the team is at the trade deadline. A win against a Super Bowl contender would suggest that the Raiders need to be buyers.
Las Vegas might have the weakest wide receiver room in the NFL. Tre Tucker has been solid, but he also didn’t have a single catch against the New York Jets in Week 8. Jalen Nailor has mostly been a non-factor.
Dont’e Thornton Jr. is finally returning from injury, but it seems like a long shot that he’ll be an impact player this season. The Raiders could try to swing a trade for a big name like Brian Thomas Jr. or Zay Flowers, but it’s more likely they try to add somebody cheaper.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell floated the idea of the Raiders trading with the Houston Texans for wide receiver Kayshon Boutte.
“The Texans dealt for receiver Kayshon Boutte before the season, but after the return of Tank Dell and the trade for Marvin Harrison Jr., Boutte’s already-limited snap share is going to be squeezed,” Barnwell wrote. “Boutte is a free agent after the season, so Las Vegas would essentially be getting a trial run with a potential starting wide receiver before deciding whether it wants to bring him back in 2027.”
Does Boutte Move the Needle For Raiders?
Boutte is a solid player, but he’s a WR3 on most teams. He’s never had more than 589 yards in a season. The Texans traded a second-round pick for Marvin Harrison Jr. after already trading for Boutte.
Now, the price to get him would likely be low. The Texans traded a player and a seventh-round pick for the wide receiver. Perhaps it would only take a sixth-round pick to get him in a trade. That’s not a high price to pay, and he could be the WR2 for the Raiders. That still doesn’t change much for the Raiders, but he’d at least be an upgrade.
George Kittle Talks Brock Bowers
The Raiders’ No. 1 receiver this year is tight end Brock Bowers. He leads the team in catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.
They have actually decided to line him up as a wide receiver at a high rate. 49ers tight end George Kittle is another one of the best tight ends in the NFL, and he thinks very highly of Bowers.
“He’s got all the tools. He’s a fantastic tight end,” Kittle said of Bowers, via Raiders.com. “Weirdly, when you watch him, he does all the routes the receivers do, right? He wins versus man coverage, you put him out wide, he wins versus corners. They throw him go balls, back shoulder go balls. He attacks everything, he’s got fantastic hands. Just a hell of a football player and he plays the game the right way. He does it in the run game, gives effort in the run game. He’s a matchup for everybody on our team. I think Kyle [Shanahan] circled him as like a, ‘Hey, we’re going to have to try really hard to stop this guy’ but it’s very hard to. So, good luck to our defense, because he’s going to make plays.”
Proposed Trade Has Raiders Land 24-Year-Old Texans WR