Las Vegas Raiders general manager John Spytek built a strong reputation in Tampa Bay's front office and across multiple NFL teams before then. How much say Spytek had over the Raiders' 2025 draft class is unclear, because now-fired head coach Pete Carroll was known to be instrumental in that area during his lengthy tenure in Seattle.
Whomever was most responsible for drafting the 11 players the Raiders did last year, the early returns aren't particularly promising. Thus, it may be worth it for Spytek to look elsewhere in the AFC West division for inspiration. AKA: alternative talent acquisition methods.
Spytek's rival, Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach, has had a hand in building three Super Bowl-winning teams. A couple of draft picks that Veach nailed who'd fit the Raiders like gloves are hitting the open market this offseason.
Those two players headline the trio Las Vegas' front office should consider bringing aboard in 2026 as the team prepares to usher in a new era with a new head coach and a new franchise quarterback.
Chiefs free agents Bryan Cook, Leo Chenal and/or Tyquan Thornton would look mighty good in Silver & Black
Other than the versatile veteran Jeremy Chinn, who played most of his snaps in the box or in the slot in 2025, Las Vegas' safety play is abysmal. Enter: Bryan Cook, a 2022 Chiefs second-round pick who PFF graded as the fourth-best safety in all of football this season.
Cook can play where Chinn does, but the majority of his reps come as the deep free safety. That's precisely what Las Vegas needs to shore up its secondary. Scoring Cook at Kansas City's expense would be such a massive get.
Unless the Raiders want to run it back with Devin White as their most involved linebacker, it might be a good idea to pursue upgrades to that group. That's where Leo Chenal comes in.
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Chenal is a supreme athlete who's always been a dynamic run defender ever since he cracked the Chiefs' main rotation. The third-round pick out of Wisconsin has to be close to his draft classmate Cook, so you could see a reality where they're a package deal to Vegas.
Now comes a bit of an X-factor. Tyquan Thornton. Oh yes. Realizing that the Raiders already have multiple fleet-footed burners in their receiving corps like Tre Tucker and Dont'e Thornton Jr., the speed we're talking about with Tyquan Thornton is a whole different deal.
Although he struggled at times to get on the same page with Patrick Mahomes — and that's a bit of a red flag — Thornton still averaged 11.8 yards per target in 2025.
That's because he's so explosive and lethal as a downfield threat. Thornton hauled in 19 receptions for 438 yards and three TDs. Yup. The 25-year-old averaged 23.1 yards per catch. Absurd.
Fernando Mendoza is expected to be the Raiders' new QB of the future. One big strength of Mendoza's game is back-shoulder throws and launching the ball downfield in general with precision. Adding a lethal deep threat like Thornton to what Las Vegas already has at the skill positions would scare the life out of defenses if Mendoza proves to be worthy of the No. 1 overall pick.
Projecting the Raiders' cost of signing Bryan Cook, Leo Chenal & Tyquan Thornton
What do you think, Raider Nation? If we go off of Spotrac's market value predictions, the contracts would look something like this (we'll overpay a little bit, since that's how free agency often goes):
- Bryan Cook: 3 years, $48 million ($14.6 million AAV projection)
- Leo Chenal: 3 years, $18 million ($4.6 million AAV projection)
- Tyquan Thornton: 2 years, $6 million (N/A)
Seems fair to me! To keep it simple and use round numbers, let's just take the average annual value of each contract and pretend that's each player's 2026 cap hit.
Counting Cook at $16 million, Chenal at $6 million, and Thornton at $3 million (they'd all be less than these figures), Las Vegas would still have a shade over $62 million in 2026 salary cap space to work with. This according to OverTheCap.com.
We'll see soon enough exactly how Spytek attacks the myriad holes on the Raiders' roster. Kansas City feels like a great starting point to look for upgrades, though.