Raiders: Trade scenarios involving pick No. 22 overall

The Las Vegas Raiders are in an intriguing position with the 22nd pick in the NFL Draft, and they could be in the market to trade it away.

You could argue that this year’s draft class has some excellent talent, especially, but there’s a steep fall in talent once you get out of the top 10. Drafting players is anything but a perfect science filled with flawed thinking in how prospects are sometimes graded. After going on a four-game win streak to close out the year, followed by a playoff berth, the Raiders fell out of the top 20 this year. This result should give Raiders’ brass the flexibility to look to flip this pick for additional draft capital.

You may be asking yourself why the 22nd pick is moveable. Well, several teams could be looking into locking down that selection, looking to secure a quarterback, for example. The Raiders, on the other hand, have several positions that need to be addressed.

The team could feasibly draft players in the second and third rounds that would give them quality depth, including potential starters out of the gate. In particular, there will be plenty of offensive linemen and wide receivers available.

The advantage of teams needing to trade up to secure a signal-caller means they’ll likely have to at least surrender one pick from next year’s draft. Again, with new management coming to the Raiders, procuring future draft capital will be fundamental. Also, the quarterback class isn’t exactly stellar, so if the team keeps Derek Carr around, drafting a signal-caller can wait.

Let’s take a look at some teams that might be willing to move up.