Feb 25, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Las Vegas Raiders general manager John Spytek on radio row during the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

How the Raiders Should Approach the Trade Deadline

Originally posted on Las Vegas Raiders on SI
By Ezekiel Trezevant | Last updated Nov 2, 2025 12:00 PM ET

The Las Vegas Raiders have only a couple of days remaining to make or not make one or more critical roster-related decisions. Regardless of their decision, the Raiders will be impacted on the field.

Raiders' Approach Will be Vital

Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus analyzed which position groups every team in the National Football League should address at the trade deadline. Las Vegas has multiple players Sikkma believes they should consider moving on from, but only if the deal makes sense for the team's future.

"The Raiders are much more likely to be a seller than anything. If they were looking for little upgrades, replacing Jakobi Meyers— if he is traded — would be one. Their safeties, Jeremy Chinn and Isaiah Pola-Mao, have each yielded four touchdowns this season. But Las Vegas, at 2-5 in that division, shouldn’t trade any of its valuable draft picks away for short-term solutions," Sikkema said.

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Raiders need improvement on both sides of the ball. Although the Raiders' defense has played well overall this season, Raiders Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham noted where his unit can improve. The Raiders' safeties have had their issues, but so have others.

Graham knows it will take every player on the Raiders' defense to play better for the team to turn things around.

"Biggest takeaway was trying to minimize the third and shorts. Again, this league and just throughout my career, you spend so much time on third downs, spend so much time in the red area, which is warranted, but it's the first and second down plays. You think about some of the long drives we've given up, sometimes they even get to third down, or they got to third and two or third and three,” Graham said.

“That's not even really third down right there. I don't know what they're going to do there. Especially nowadays, they can run, the quarterback can run. They could go for on fourth down with all the analytics. So my job, the self-evaluation, is I got to put these guys in a better spot on second down. First down, pretty solid. Second down, got to do a better job on second down and try to create some longer third down situations. So, that falls on me."

This article first appeared on Las Vegas Raiders on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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