Raiders in the running for star pass rusher looking for trade

The Las Vegas Raiders would be smart at this stage to keep their ears close to the ground in terms of trade opportunities.

Shortly after Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin requested a trade, the NFC East was rocked by another trade request. On Friday, Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons requested a trade after a long contract stalemate. The move comes after the Cowboys have already paid the likes of wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and quarterback Dak Prescott, so the team might not have the financial flexibility required to add another long-term contract with the cap hit Parsons will likely ask for.

If that is the case, the Raiders can easily convince themselves of the possibility that Parsons is the piece they need to take them over the top.

Adding Parsons to a Raiders defense including Maxx Crosby has the potential to break the league.

In a list of sensible destinations for the superstar pass rusher, Yahoo! Sports’ Frank Schwab listed the Raiders, citing their league-high cap number for 2026 to make an extension easier to swallow.

“The Raiders currently have the most salary cap space in the NFL for 2026 (big contracts often don’t have a huge salary cap hit in the first year), according to Spotrac. They’re projected to be $114 million under the cap. It would be a challenge for the Raiders to pay Maxx Crosby and Parsons, but what a pass rushing duo that would be,” wrote Schwab.

“They were also set to pay Crosby and Christian Wilkins before everything went sideways with Wilkins and he was cut. The Raiders might also make a big move, considering they just hired head coach Pete Carroll, who will turn 74 in September, traded for 34-year-old quarterback Geno Smith and drafted running back Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall draft pick. The moves indicate they want to win sooner rather than later.”

The best part for the Raiders is they have gone through a similar trade, albeit on the opposite side of the equation.

The main comparison being thrown out for a potential Parsons deal is the trade that sent Khalil Mack from the then-Oakland Raiders to the Chicago Bears in 2018. In that deal, the Bears sent over first-round picks in 2019 and 2020, as well as a 2020 third-round pick and a 2019 sixth-round pick, in exchange for Mack, a 2020 second-round pick and a conditional fifth-round pick.

Add to that already high price the fact that Parsons will likely command the highest salary of any non-quarterback (currently held by Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase with a four-year, $161 million contract), and that eliminates plenty of teams that either will not or cannot pay.

The Raiders have the means to make a Parsons deal happen, but the question they have to ask is if the improvement to their roster is worth mortgaging a large part of their future for.