Raiders: Mike Mayock weighs the benefits of how Las Vegas impacts free agency

General Manager Mike Mayock speaks about the benefits that Las Vegas will provide the team as they look to add key pieces in free agency.

The Oakland era has officially came to a close, and the Raiders fresh start in Las Vegas will kick off in March at the start of the new league year. This is a franchise that has come a long way since a year ago, as they stacked up talent via the 2019 NFL Draft, and hit home runs on a few free agents.

The Raiders will play their homes games at Allegiant Stadium — their brand new state of the art facility, located just a couple of miles away from the Las Vegas strip. For many years, Las Vegas wasn’t regarded as a sports destination, but with the arrival of the Vegas Golden Knights the last few seasons, that narrative has changed and the Raiders will only intensify that.

Raiders fans are notorious for traveling wherever the team is playing, whether that’s Oakland or Los Angeles, and now they embark on the franchise’s third location — also known as the entertainment capital of the world. This is one of the better fan bases in the world, and you can be sure they will bring the same passion to Sin City in 2020 and beyond.

Raiders second-year general manager Mike Mayock believes Las Vegas will be a good move for the organization and could help the team in free agency with Las Vegas being a high-profile destination.

"“I think first and foremost, we go from a 13% state tax in California to a zero percent state tax in Nevada,” said Mayock in an interview with the Raiders podcast network. “The players and their agents are very aware of that.”“People are fired up about the Raiders in Vegas. We’ve got a brand new facility under construction that the players will be living in seven days a week, state of the art in every single facet. I think there’s a real excitement about Jon Gruden leading the Raiders into Las Vegas and it extends financially, extends to our facilities, we’re gonna be a first-rate operation in every single facet and I think that energy will trickle through into free agency.”"

In Mayock’s rookie year as a general manager he equipped the team with the talents of Trent Brown, Tyrell Williams, and Lamarcus Joyner to name a few via free agency. He also hit it out of the park with his first rookie class — laying the foundation for years to come. Those rookies included on only players he drafted, but also brought on as undrafted rookie free agents.

The Raiders current roster sits with staggering needs at wide receiver and linebacker, so it is a great thing that they once again hold more than one first round pick this April. In addition, Mayock has $57.8 million to play with in available cap space and he’ll likely sprinkle that all over the defensive side of the ball.