2 Players Raiders Should Look Into Before NFL Trade Deadline

The Las Vegas Raiders brought in a load of talent on both sides of the ball this offseason. The Raiders' front office left nearly no stone unturned to quickly revamp its roster. That led to Las Vegas' 3-0 start, which has now leveled out at .500 heading into Week 9.

The strides Las Vegas made this offseason have produced instant, tangible results for the Raiders' front office and coaching staff. Yet that progress lets them move on to the next areas that need improvement.

Las Vegas made so much progress on its roster this offseason that the positions it needs help at most are glaring. Those roster weaknesses showed up during their four-game losing streak. That losing streak confirmed that coaching can only do so much; Las Vegas' roster needs more.

The Raiders may ultimately not be serious players at the deadline, but there are undoubtedly players on the trade block that could help Las Vegas win games this season. Below are two players that the Las Vegas Raiders should kick the tires on, with the trade deadline only days away.

WR Brian Thomas Jr.

Thomas has too much talent for Las Vegas not to at least reach out to the Jacksonville Jaguars to see what they would want in return for the young receiver. The Raiders' and Jaguars' current front offices worked together last season to complete a trade for wide receiver Jakobi Meyers.

Las Vegas will keep building out its receivers over the next few seasons and may need even more after the season, depending on what happens with Tre Tucker. Thomas would be a solid addition to the position group and could open up the offense even more.

CB Riq Woolen

Again, I don't believe the Raiders will make a move, but trade talks often do not result in trades.

At the very least, Las Vegas' front office should do its due diligence on any affordable cornerback potentially on the trade block. The Raiders owe it to their roster to at least see what the Philadelphia Eagles' asking price for Woolen would be.

Woolen would not solve all of Las Vegas' defensive issues. However, he would be just as good as, if not better than, most of the cornerbacks on Las Vegas' roster.

The Raiders' struggles in their defensive backfield have brought the expected challenges and more. The unit has struggled over the past few weeks after a solid start to the season.

As the trade deadline approaches, Klint Kubiak gave insight into how his coaching staff handled their defense's struggles. Las Vegas' defense buckled down in the second half against the Jets, holding them to only 10 second-half points after allowing New York 17 in the second quarter.

“That’s something as a coaching staff and as players and as coaches that we’re working together to fix. It’s not going to happen overnight. Something that is going to take practices, it’s going to take experience, it’s going to take us putting our heads together and having a better product so that we’re not giving up those many yards on the ground,” Kubiak said earlier this week.

“But the people that we have doing it together, our players and coaches, I believe in, and that’s a really important piece of it. We have each other’s back, and the thing I love about our defense is that when things didn’t go well, we kept playing."

“We got key stops. Made a huge play at the end with [Jeremy] Chinn, and in the NFL, it’s not always going to be pretty. It’s not always going to be how you wanted it to happen. But at the end of the game, it’s who won the game, and I think as a team we found a way to win.”

The Raiders face a talented 49ers team to start a three-game stretch that will go a long way toward determining the rest of the season and Las Vegas' foreseeable future beyond that.

Overall, Las Vegas has made progress. The next three games will confirm just how much. The Raiders hope to have a better go this time around, after striking out on their recent four-game stretch against the league's best.

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