It has become a foregone conclusion that the Las Vegas Raiders will take Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick in April. That, for the foreseeable future, would have the most important position spoken for, for better or for worse, depending on how Mendoza does.
But the time between the end of the regular season and the start of the new league year is a time when speculation surfaces. On that front, the Raiders have been tied to Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson amid indications that all is not necessarily well between him and the team.
How the departure of head coach John Harbaugh impacts that equation is unclear. But since that happened, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wondered if surrendering the first overall pick for Jackson might be worthwhile for the Raiders.
"Whatever the cost (and it’s unclear whether Jackson would have other suitors, given that no one called when he was available under the non-exclusive franchise tag three years ago), the Raiders arguably need to make a splash.
"Adding Jackson could lure other free agents to town. And it could go a long way toward getting current star players (Maxx Crosby and Brock Bowers) to stop wondering whether their skills are being wasted with a perennial basement dweller.
"The key to a possible Jackson trade, from the Raiders’ perspective, is minority owner Tom Brady. Although Brady managed (somehow) to avoid taking widespread public flak for the abject failure of the franchise in 2025, he’s now front and center. If 2026 goes like 2025, Brady’s leather-glove-and-expensive-watch ensemble will be finished off with a front-office dunce cap."
The Lamar Jackson-to-Las Vegas hype train is picking up steam
Heading toward conference championship game weekend, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler gathered some bold offseason predictions from NFL executives, coaches and scouts.
First on the list was the Raiders trading for Jackson.
"This potential pairing has made its way through the rumor mill, and multiple people I spoke with who track such things used their one bold prediction in this exercise to designate Jackson a Raider.
"To take Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti at his word is to assume Jackson will remain in Baltimore. Bisciotti was clear he wants a contract extension for Jackson by March.
"But if we're going bold...
"It just seems like there's been some consternation there with Lamar and the Ravens, and this would be the ultimate Mark Davis move," an NFL personnel evaluator said. "I'm not even convinced everybody with Vegas would be on board with it but it would instantly solve their quarterback problems."
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How Jackson jives with whoever the new head coach in Baltimore is will be critical to any notion he could be traded, which Fowler pointed to.
"From chemistry issues with the previous coaching staff to concerns about his availability, Jackson's relationship with the Ravens does not seem to be in the best spot," Fowler wrote. "Baltimore probably realizes life with a two-time MVP is better than life without, which would mean a big contract offer is coming. But this is a situation to monitor, and how Jackson hits it off with the new head coach feels significant."
That new head coach and coaching staff idea also transfers to two potential suitors who have been put out there. While the Raiders are looking for a new head coach, the Miami Dolphins, the other suitor, already have theirs in former Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.
The head coach of the team that acquires Jackson has to be on board with having him, or it won't (or shouldn't) happen. The odds Jackson is traded at all feel slim to begin with, and the odds that the Raiders would pony up the cost to acquire him seem even slimmer.
If the rest of the roster was in a "win now" place, it'd be a different conversation. So, while the Lamar-to-Las Vegas hype train has now picked up enough steam so that it's a bit more than purely speculative, Raider Nation should not get on board yet. If ever.