Now that free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft are in the rear-view mirror, the conversation regarding the Las Vegas Raiders has shifted to whether the team should be content with what they have in their wide receiver group.
In free agency, the Silver and Black signed Jalen Nailor, and in the draft, they selected Malik Benson in the sixth round. Nonetheless, the front office didn’t see the need to trade back into the first round or spend a Day 2 pick on a wideout.
While the national media might feel that Las Vegas is lacking a reliable wideout, former Raiders offensive lineman Lincoln Kennedy is putting the brakes on signing or trading for a receiver. Kennedy believes the team needs to evaluate what they have first.
“You had an addition with Nailor,” Kennedy said on the May 5 edition of the “Raiders Squad Show.” “You still have to see what you have out of Jack Bech [and] you still have to see what you have in Dont’e Thornton Jr. You still have to see Tre Tucker coming into the final year of his contract.”
Moreover, Kennedy states that the Silver and Black shouldn’t look to the free-agent market to improve their wideout group, especially if it comes at the cost of creating distractions on a team that will be really young.
“You don’t need to go out and address it in free agency or sign one of these guys or make a play for one of these star diva names because that brings a distraction in your locker room, I think,“ Kennedy added. “What you’re trying to do is create cohesiveness with a very young and impressionable team.”
Las Vegas Predicted to Address WR Situation Next Offseason
This is Year 1 of the Raiders’ rebuild, and the wideout situation doesn’t need to be solved in one offseason. Furthermore, Kennedy understands why the team didn’t select a receiver on Day 2 of the draft and notes that he sees this position being addressed next offseason, once Las Vegas gets a clearer picture of what they already have.
“I think that when we did our mock drafts and when we looked at the offseason with the acquisitions, and we saw what the Raiders did, in the back of my mind I said, ‘You know what? They’re probably not going to address this receiver position in the draft. It’ll probably be next year,‘” Kennedy said.
“For as many people who talk about Denzel Boston and all these other receivers, I saw where teams like Cleveland went. I saw where other teams went; I didn’t have those guys designated as a true X. I have not seen that out of these players.”
Could the Raiders Buy Low on a WR Needing a Change?
While Kennedy is ruling out that the Raiders should use free agency to improve the wide receiver room, could general manager John Spytek go the trade route and buy low on a potential wideout needing a change of scenery?
For The Athletic’s Robert Mays, he believes the Raiders should go the trade route and buy low on a player without leveraging any of their Day 1 or Day 2 picks in the 2027 NFL Draft.
Mays proposed that Las Vegas pursue Kayshon Boutte, who could be the odd man out if the New England Patriots trade for A.J. Brown.
“The actual real thing that the Raiders could do, that is within the realm of possibility and is not us screwing around because it’s April 29 and we are trying to have a good time, is: Can you trade a fifth-round pick for Kayshon Boutte?” Mays said on the April 30 edition of “The Athletic Football Show.”
“It’s that type of stuff they actually probably should be thinking about, not the pie-in-the-sky idea of whether they can snatch away A.J. Brown from the Patriots. It’s not going to happen.”
Lincoln Kennedy Makes Feelings Clear on Raiders’ WR Situation