Should the Las Vegas Raiders trade up for Jeffrey Okudah?
By Daniel Davis
The Las Vegas Raiders still need a ton of help at the cornerback position, and trading up for Jeffrey Okudah should not be off the table.
The highest-rated cornerback in the 2020 NFL Draft is Ohio State’s Jeffrey Okudah, who many believe will be a top-5 pick this April. The question now becomes should the Raiders trade up for Okudah, shoring up the biggest weakness on their defense, and whether or not they have enough capital to move up.
Let’s just say for argument’s sake the Raiders make the move to take Okudah, the next question is who would we have to move up to to get him?
Presumably, the Cincinnati Bengals will take a quarterback and Washington will take edge rusher Chase Young. The Detroit Lions need a cornerback, especially after trading away Darius Slay, so that is where this gets interesting. If, by some reason they pass up on Okudah, the chances increase significantly.
This leaves the New York Giants, who I think will take Isaiah Simmons rather than an offensive tackle. After trading away Minkah Fitzpatrick for a draft pick, the Miami Dolphins, who hold the No. 5 pick, could be in play, but they seem to be in on Tua Tagovailoa.
Personally, I’m not a fan of selling the house to get one player because then you end up like the Chicago Bears with Mitchell Trubisky – being stuck with mediocre talent because of a trade. At 6, the Los Angeles Chargers need a quarterback, and now at No. 7, the Carolina Panthers could they be in the market for Derrick Brown, the best overall defensive tackle in this draft class.
Trading up from No. 12 to 8 is much easier than trading up to No. 3, where you are looking at multiple draft picks. Sure, the Detroit Lions would take both first round picks for the No. 3 spot, but is that too much for one player.
Okudah is the kind of corner who can come in and turn this defensive backfield around immediately. He only gave up one touchdown all of last season with three interceptions with one returned for a touchdown. Even more impressive is his less than 50% completion percentage with an opposing quarterback rating of under 50.
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If you’re looking for someone to build a defense around, this is your guy. Corners are just like receivers, you can never have enough of them and you can definitely never have enough that are great. In the end, the value of Okudah could mean a defensive game-changer with all the defensive additions to the team and especially with Eli Apple coming to Las Vegas.