Previous Trade Helped the Raiders Complete Their Most Significant Move

Spytek has made several moves that have completely retooled the Raiders on one side of the ball. If the Raiders' defense stays healthy and plays well, the Raiders would have retooled both sides of the ball in one offseason.

Although the Raiders have several players on one-year deals, if the team can show marked improvement this upcoming season, Las Vegas could use this season as proof to future free agents about what is possible under their new leadership.

While Las Vegas is still climbing its way out of the hole created by failed moves of previous regimes, an underrated move made by the Raiders' last general manager, Tom Telesco, may have set the Raiders up for the future in ways that were unforeseen at the moment.

Intertwined into last season's challenges on the field were the problems brewing off the field with the Raiders' star wide receiver, Davante Adams. The veteran wide receiver was frustrated with the direction of the team and took several public steps to make it very evident how he felt.

Adams' behavior months after Telesco accepted the job and the Raiders' first-time head coach, Antonio Pierce's first offseason as the team's leader, threatened to tear apart a locker room that is dealing with enough issues as it was.

Telesco wisely traded Adams to his preferred destination, the New York Jets. The Raiders received a third-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft in return. The Jets also agreed to take on the remainder of Adams' contract.

That one move opened up money for the Raiders to spend elsewhere. It also landed them the 92nd pick in this year's draft. It was the pick they traded to the Seattle Seahawks for Geno Smith.

After years of struggling at quarterback, the Raiders acquired a signal caller who can provide them with quality play for at least the next two seasons, if not longer.

More importantly, they got that quarterback, and it only took a third-round draft pick they got in return for an aging, disgruntled player.

It seems like many moons ago that the Raiders traded Adams to the Jets, but that one may have directly helped the Raiders step into a more productive era of football.

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