Raiders free agent addition already listed as trade candidate by Bleacher Report

What if I told you one of the Raiders' free agent additions this offseason would be traded before he ever actually played a snap in Las Vegas? Not only would you not believe me, but you'd probably make fun of me, drag me in the QTs, and call me a clown. You'd probably unfollow me and then do a long tweet thread about how stupid people on the internet can be.

And that'd be fair! Because it's a pretty dumb notion. But that's not stopped Bleacher Report before, so it's sure as hell not going to stop them now. In one of their latest listicles, titled '1 Trade Each NFL Team Should Consider Before the 2024 Season Starts,' BR valiantly suggests that the Raiders part ways with one of their "bigger" free agent signings of the offseason. At least it's not Christian Wilkins, although I'd kind of respect them more if it was.

Bleacher Report thinks the Raiders should trade Harrison Bryant already

"The last time the Giants traded for a Raiders tight end it didn't work out so well. Darren Waller only ended up playing 12 games last season, averaged 10.6 yards per reception and retired this offseason ... This time, the trade would be much more low stakes. The Raiders signed Harrison Bryant to a one-year, $3.3 million contract in March, but couldn't have factored in drafting Brock Bowers at the time. Drafting the rookie phenomenon out of Georgia probably puts Bryant third in the tight end pecking order right away."

I mean, they probably could have factored drafting Brock Bowers into the decision? Because teams prioritize signing more than one good player to any given position on their team? And that's super common? So while I get the idea that the Raiders suddenly have an unusually-deep tight end room at their disposal, I'm not sure how that equates to just trading one away. Making a move just to make a move is how GMs end up doing salary cap breakdowns on SportsCenter.

Putting aside the fact that their new offensive coordinator loves playing with two tight ends, and putting aside the fact that their new star tight end is probably more of a hybrid wide receiver, the notion that the Raiders would just happily trade away a player that they actively worked to sign four months ago feels like one of those ideas that can only exist on the internet. Crazier things have happened I guess, but assuming that Tom Telesco values his job, it'd be odd to see him give up on a player before he ever actually, you know, plays.