Raiders viewed as good landing spot for superstar wide receiver if traded

The Las Vegas Raiders have been widely criticized for the way they have handled their offseason, specifically in terms of what they did during the NFL Draft.

Many expected the Raiders to select a quarterback in the draft, but they instead opted to take University of Georgia tight end Brock Bowers with the 13th pick.

In Las Vegas’ defense, the top six signal-callers in the class were all selected before the Raiders were on the clock, so outside of trading up, the team really didn’t have much of a choice.

Las Vegas appears to be trying to load up on weapons in its aerial attack, perhaps to compensate for the lack of elite talent under center (the Raiders will have Aidan O’Connell and free-agent addition Gardner Minshew competing for the starting quarterback job in camp).

That’s why Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder thinks Las Vegas could represent a fine landing spot for San Francisco 49ers star wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk in the event of a trade.

Aiyuk is preparing to enter the final year of his contract and may be too expensive for the 49ers to afford long term. He has also made it clear that he isn’t going to be taking any hometown discount, further complicating things for San Francisco.

As a result, trade speculation has been swirling around Aiyuk, and Holder thinks he may be interested in reuniting with Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce, who was the recruiting coordinator at Arizona State when Aiyuk played his collegiate football there.

Las Vegas already has a fine receiving duo in Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers, plus a couple of talented young tight ends in Bowers and Michael Mayer. Adding Aiyuk into the mix would make the Raiders’ weaponry that much more frightening for opposing secondaries.

Of course, barring a dramatic turn of events in the coming weeks or months, the chances of the Niners actually moving Aiyuk before the 2024 campaign seem rather slim. If the 49ers were going to trade him, they probably would have done so before the draft last month.

But that certainly won’t stop people from speculating.

Aiyuk is coming off of a fantastic 2023 season in which he hauled in 75 receptions for 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns and has registered back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns.

The Raiders went 8-9 this past year.