The Las Vegas Raiders, like every other NFL team, will be required to turn in their initial 53-man roster to the league office by Tuesday afternoon. On Monday, they went a bit crazy making some last-minute changes to the makeup of the team and no shortage of news broke from Las Vegas.
Star wideout Jakobi Meyers officially requested a trade from the Raiders in the early afternoon on Monday, which was the culmination of an ongoing contract dispute. Raider Nation had no idea that talks had soured in any way, so the news came as a major surprise.
Just hours later, in what seemed like a corresponding move, the team reunited with veteran wideout Amari Cooper. This felt like the kiss of death for Meyers remaining in Las Vegas, but upon further inspection of Cooper's contract details, that may not be the case.
Raiders sign Amari Cooper to cheap deal, leave door open for Jakobi Meyers
According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Cooper signed an incredibly cheap one-year deal with the team. The contract is worth up to $6 million, with a base value of just $3.5 million, $500,000 in per-game roster bonuses and additional incentives worth up to $2 million.
While Meyers certainly wants a contract extension for security purposes, given that this is the final year of his deal, he likely wants to be paid in the same echelon as some of his peers as well, who struck big paydays this offseason.
Cooper's one-year, team-friendly deal does not preclude John Spytek and Pete Carroll from still extending Meyers at a high price. It is increasingly likely that the team wanted to find a cheap veteran addition to the room anyway, and the timing of Meyers' trade request was simply a coincidence.
Bleacher Report's Moe Moton even noted that multiple teams were interested in acquiring Cooper, including the San Francisco 49ers. So, there is almost no way that the team could have swung a deal in record time if it had to do directly with Meyers' situation.
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Ideally, both players will be in the fold for the Raiders this year, as quarterback Geno Smith and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly will want as many weapons as they can get on offense. They don't line up in the same spot either, so they could easily coexist in Las Vegas.
Meyers is still ascending in his career, and Cooper is definitely on the downslope, but both can be effective this year for the Silver and Black alongside players like Brock Bowers, Ashton Jeanty, Tre Tucker and rookies Jack Bech and Dont'e Thornton Jr.
While it seems like tensions are high between the Raiders and Meyers' camp at this point, and many felt that the signing of Cooper was an indication that the franchise had already moved on, it seems like there is still a chance for everything to work out well in Las Vegas, for once.