After having the league's worst rushing attack by a substantial margin last season, the Las Vegas Raiders turned over their running back depth chart this offseason. The centerpiece of that turnover is, of course, rookie Ashton Jeanty, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
But veteran Raheem Mostert was also brought in to push any remaining incumbents down the depth chart a notch as well. At the outset of the offseason, The Athletic specifically named Zamir White as a player that the Raiders could be open to trading.
White flashed as the Raiders' workhorse back late in the 2023 season, with 397 yards on 84 carries over the final four games. That fueled breakout buzz around him heading into last year, but that buzz crashed early when a groin injury cost him a couple of games. Upon returning to action, he was phased out before a quad injury cost him the rest of the season.
Raiders have a running back surplus they could trade from before Week 1
White has been far easier to see as a notable roster cut for the Raiders than as any kind of viable trade asset. Then, earlier this month, head coach Pete Carroll took an opportunity to heap praise on the 2022 fourth-round pick.
"He really has sent a message that he's the hammer," Carroll said. "I love having different styles of running backs. His physicality that we've been celebrating with him, and we tell him we like the way he runs. Don't try to be something that you're not. Run heavy and run thick and tough like he does. I’m really excited about what he’s done.”
Mostert has been the favorite to be Jeanty's primary backup, but there, unsurprisingly, seems to be an open competition for the role. Carroll has been complimentary of Sincere McCormick as well, and second-year man Dylan Laube is also lingering somewhere in the competition for a roster spot.
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In a fresh look at the preseason trade block for each team, Logan Ulrich of NFL Trade Rumors focused on running backs by tabbing White, McCormick and Laube as potential trade candidates for the Raiders.
"First-round RB Ashton Jeanty is going to get the lion’s share of the work and veteran RB Raheem Mostert will spell him, but after that, the Raiders have a lot of depth still at running back," Ulrich wrote. "Parlaying that into a trade with how devalued the position has become could be hard but they have some interesting names. White is a hammer of a runner who couldn’t get untracked last year and was passed late in the season by McCormick, who runs hard. Laube is a passing-down specialist who found the transition from New Hampshire to the NFL too tough last year, but has some parallels to Danny Woodhead in his game."
White did not stand out in the Raiders' preseason opener, with just two carries for two yards. He'll probably see a little more work in the second preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers, though, as the battle for spots on the running back depth chart takes better shape.
If White was made available via trade back in March, it's safe to assume the Raiders got little, if any, interest. Training camp buzz has likely revived his trade value to some degree, and in general, there's now a running back surplus that general manager John Spytek could look to trade from between now and Week 1.