HENDERSON, Nev.—The Raiders (3-4) go to New Jersey this weekend, where they hope to return to their winning ways against the New York Jets (2-5).

The Silver & Black are in the first year of a calculated Raiders rebuild led by GM John Spytek and guided on the field by Klint Kubiak, and they’ve shown admirable discipline in sticking to the plan.

Help Needed!

The Raiders need help. We knew before the season even started that this team has positions where the Raiders don’t even have a player, are woefully inadequate (DL), thin (Multiple Positions), or simply young (DB).

This is not a franchise void of talent. Still, they certainly have voids, and the discipline isn’t recognizing them; it’s noticing that one player, or even two, wouldn’t project them into a Super Bowl contender, so don’t overpay for temporary headlines that cost championships in the future.

Let me explain.

Quenton Nelson

The Raiders’ guard play has been inconsistent, if we’re being nice, and terrible, if we’re being blunt, from game to game.

With the NFL trade deadline looming on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at 1 PM PT, rumors suggested the Raiders were interested in then-Colts G Quenton Nelson, a perennial Pro Bowler-caliber player (eight times in eight years).  I confirmed the Raiders were interested.

So why not make a deal?  The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks did.  Believe it or not, the answer is simple.

The Raiders plan all along, as we have reported multiple times, is to use 2026 as a rebuild year, get everything into focus as far as the roster, reload and make more adjustments in 2027 via trades, free agency, and the NFL Draft, and then starting in 2028, be a perennial contender in the NFL Playoffs every year.

Nelson is no doubt a good player; he is terrific.  He is 30, and in the last year of his contract.  The Raiders are not contenders this season; with an expiring contract, the Seahawks paid an exorbitant price: a 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick.

NFL Executives Speak

We reached out to three NFL executives to ask about the cost the Seahawks paid and their thoughts on Spytek’s decision not to make the move.

Executive No. 1:  “That cost makes sense if you are the Seahawks and think you could be one guy away, and you feel pretty good about resigning him.  I can tell you this: if I am John [Spytek] looking at his roster and so many needs, I’m not doing it.  Those two picks could be two players, and what will his contract be?  If you could get some assurances on a contract, and I’m sure the Seahawks had those talks before swinging this deal, I would have done a third if I were the Raiders, but no chance in hell I would do that Seahawks deal if I was him.”

NFL executive No. 2: “I wouldn’t have made the deal.  That deal went higher than the Hawks wanted, thanks to the Raiders, but they are in need there. Spy [John Spytek] isn’t.  He knows what he has. That move would have gotten him some good press, but it would have also slowed the rebuild; it would have cost him two players [two draft picks] and a lot of cap, on a 30-year-old.”

Finally, executive number three was even more direct.

NFL executive No. 3:  “I don’t know Johnny [John Spytek] well, but not doing that deal tells me a lot about his style, and the Raiders’ thinking.  They aren’t afraid to be bold; [Tyler] Linderbaum proved that, but they aren’t going to be dumb.  That deal makes a lot of sense for Johnny [Seahawks GM John Schneider], but not for the Raiders.  They have a lot of needs, and if Q [Quenton Nelson] were 27, you could do a new deal, maybe not two picks.  But not 30, the cost in picks and salary, and the remaining holes.”

Synopsis

Fans want action; I respect and understand it.  So do Spytek, Tom Brady and Kubiak.  But the Raiders also understand that action for action’s sake has doomed them for over 20 years.

The Raiders want long-term action that makes sense. That is why Marvin Harrison Jr. isn't here. Nelson, ultimately, didn’t make sense inside the Silver & Black paradigm, and the NF agrees.

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