Las Vegas Raiders: Best moves of the 2023 Offseason

3 of 4

Trading Up for Michael Mayer

One of the biggest steals in the draft was when the Raiders traded up from 38 to 35 to select Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer. I would say if it wasn't for the Raiders being the ones to do it, the talking heads of the sports media world would unanimously feel the same way.

Mayer was highly regarded as the best tight end in the draft. Widely regarded as a Top 5-10 player on many analysts big board, it was widely assumed he wouldn't have made it out of the Top 20 picks, let alone the whole first round in general.

After trading Darren Waller to the New York Giants earlier in the offseason, the Raiders undoubtably had a need to fill the tight end position. After bringing in Austin Hooper and OJ Howard in free agency, the thought was they could easily run with them this year and not address it.

But when Mayer was passed up on by other teams and found himself yet to be picked when day 2 came around, the Raiders made the jump to snag him. We will see how his journey continues as a Las Vegas Raider in the years to come, but with the abilities he's shown and the ceiling he has as a professional, the Raiders may have snagged their Travis Kelce for the next ten years.

Home/Las Vegas Raiders News