Not many teams in the current NFL landscape would want castoffs from the Las Vegas Raiders after the year they put together in 2025. But the New York Jets are one of those teams, perhaps the only one, as they signed Dylan Parham and traded for Geno Smith earlier this offseason.
Trading for Smith, in particular, reeked of desperation for the Jets, as the Raiders had no quarrels about releasing him just days later when the new league year began. But New York swooped in for the veteran, and this was deemed a major win for Las Vegas general manager John Spytek.
To build on that momentum, Spytek has struck again on roster cutdown day, as he was able to trade Jordan Meredith and a 2029 seventh-round pick to the Jets in exchange for a 2027 sixth-round pick. This is masterful work for the Raiders' young decision-maker, and a clone of what happened in March.
Raiders send Jordan Meredith to Jets for exact terms they dealt Geno Smith
If fans remember, just under 24 hours before the 2026 league year began, the Raiders sent Smith and a seventh-rounder to New York for a sixth-round pick. Now, just hours before the cutdown deadline, Las Vegas has sent Meredith and a seventh-rounder to the Jets for a sixth-round pick.
Same team, same package. It's literally déjà vu.
Neither of these players was going to factor into the Raiders' plans in 2026 or beyond, and yet New York felt compelled to swap late-round picks to get its hands on them before they hit the open market. As bizarre as that seems, this massively benefits the Silver and Black.
Objectively, it is also quite hilarious that the Jets paid the same price for a starting quarterback as they did for a depth piece on the offensive line. Obviously, contract stipulations played a role in this, but Raider Nation can also laugh at Geno Smith for this, as they've made a habit of doing lately.
Getting anything in return for either Smith or Meredith was a miracle for Spytek, as the former was the NFL's worst quarterback a year ago, and the latter was the fifth-worst-graded center by Pro Football Focus in 2025. How on earth do the Raiders get to move up a round in the draft for them?
Meredith didn't really have a role in Las Vegas' offensive line room, as the team invested in Tyler Linderbaum this offseason, signed another guard in Spencer Burford and drafted Trey Zuhn III. Meredith was going to be the odd man out, so simply swapping picks to get rid of him was a heist.
Unlike Smith, this fanbase has nothing against Meredith. In fact, he was very good at guard back in 2024 when asked to step in, and it's Chip Kelly and the Carrolls' fault that he ever got put at center in the first place, where he clearly wasn't equipped to thrive as much.
But the Jets need interior offensive line depth much more than the Raiders do, so a path to him playing there is much clearer. Trading him also frees up about $3.5 million in cap space, which Spytek and Co. can use to bolster another position of need at this juncture.
So, Meredith is now reunited with Parham and Smith in New York, and the Silver and Black are a sixth-round pick richer once again. I wonder how many more of these late-round pick swaps the Jets would do for the Raiders' scraps? Can't hurt to call and find out.
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