On Monday night, the Las Vegas Raiders agreed to a trade, sending cornerback Jakorian Bennett to the Philadelphia Eagles for defensive tackle Thomas Booker IV. Trading Bennett was not necessarily a huge surprise, with reports that he was regularly working with the third-team defense during camp.
Booker was drafted by the Houston Texans in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, but injuries prevented him from making too much of an impact. He then spent the 2023 season on the Eagles' practice squad, before playing in all 17 games for them last year, recording 1.0 sack in 166 snaps.
The Raiders needed defensive tackle depth in the wake of releasing Christian Wilkins. Booker is just that, and with the sixth-best athleticism score among defensive tackle prospects at the 2022 NFL combine, he carries a certain level of intrigue for the staff in Las Vegas.
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Bennett was clearly not a fit for the defensive scheme that head coach Pete Carroll favors. It's also worth noting that the Raiders poached two people from Philadelphia's front office this offseason, Brandon Hunt and Anthony Patch, who should know Booker better than anyone.
NFL analyst Ross Tucker posted a quick reaction to the sudden trade on Tuesday morning.
"Hard not to really like this trade for the Philadelphia Eagles, as they get Jakorian Bennett, who started a bunch of games at cornerback last year for the Raiders and played very well, in exchange for Thomas Booker,” Tucker said.
Tucker stretched the definition of a "bunch of games," as Bennett started just seven contests and played in 10 for the Raiders last year before a shoulder injury ended his season. What qualifies as playing well was also stretched a bit by Tucker, since Bennett had zero interceptions and an overall Pro Football Focus grade that ranked him 135th out of 222 qualifying cornerbacks.
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Doing business with Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has become akin to doing business with the dynasty-era New England Patriots. Tucker thinks the Raiders are the latest team to be taken advantage of by one of the best general managers in the NFL.
“I think here’s what Howie Roseman did. Two things. One is, he took advantage of a new coaching staff in Las Vegas, that’s looking for bigger corners than Bennett," Tucker said. "And, also, the Raiders kind of have some defensive tackle desperation after the Christian Wilkins release. I’m a little bit surprised the Raiders weren’t able to get more for Jakorian Bennett than this.”
The Las Vegas Review-Journal's Vincent Bonsignore revealed that the Raiders had been shopping Bennett for "a couple (of) weeks" before he was moved. Apparently, there wasn't a better deal out there for the two-year veteran.
If Bennett continued to be out of the primary pecking order at cornerback, his trade value was only going to fall further. So, a deal to send Bennett to the Eagles became the best option, but at least one notable analyst thinks the Raiders are the latest to be fleeced by Roseman.