Oakland Raiders fans feel team should trade Rivera

Just Blog Baby asked the readers if the Oakland Raiders should go through on a trade of tight end Mychal Rivera with 65% voting for a trade.

Oakland Raiders tight end Mychal Rivera is reportedly on the trade market, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the news that general manager Reggie McKenzie is open to shopping the 2013 draft pick. Expanding Clive Walford’s role the main reason for Rivera being available according to ESPN’s Adam Caplan.

The news brought up the debate over whether the Raiders are making the right move in shopping a player who has shown promise in the past as a receiving playmaker.

With Walford taking some of Rivera’s targets from 2013 and 2014, Rivera’s stats showed significant regression in a lesser role. Getting half of the targets than he had the year before, Rivera compiled just 32 catches last season as his touchdowns dropped from four to just one single touchdown in 2015. Statistics that indicate the Raiders could easily replace Rivera.

Still, Rivera has proven potential and has made big plays for the Raiders throughout his first three seasons.  With nine career touchdowns and several clutch catches in his highlight reel, it would be inexpensive to keep Rivera for one more season before making a decision on keeping him around once his contract expires. With an expected value of a late round pick, it could be argued that giving up a proven playmaker for an unproven prospect is not the move the Raiders should be making as they gear up for a playoff push.

With the debate brewing over the Rivera news, Just Blog Baby asked Twitter if a trade would be the right move for the Raiders going forward. Interestingly, 65% of our Twitter followers voted in approval of a Rivera trade that would move on from the tight end before the end of his rookie contract.

Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that fans would approve of a Rivera trade at the right price. After all, Clive Walford is viewed as the team’s future at tight end and it appeared that Rivera was struggling in a secondary role. With his rookie contract coming up at the end of 2016, getting some value out of Rivera wouldn’t be the worst thing for the team if they do decide to go that route. Something that appears to have the approval of Raiders fans if McKenzie does decide to pull the trigger on a trade involving the tight end.