Raiders Rumors Suggest 2021 Draft Pick Could Be Moved

Week 3 of the NFL preseason is here, giving players their final opportunity to crack their respective 53-man rosters. The Las Vegas Raiders are focused on putting together the best possible roster to help them survive the AFC West in 2022, which could lead to a surprising trade, according to NFL insider Doug Kyed.

Kyed reports that the Raiders could potentially seek out a trade partner for offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood. Moving on from the 23-year-old would be quite the shock, considering that Las Vegas selected him 17th overall at the 2021 NFL Draft.

Raiders Trade Rumors

The Pro Football Focus reporter cites a regime change as one of the reasons why the Raiders may trade Leatherwood. Kyed says that general manager Dave Ziegler and head coach Josh McDaniels are "not tied to past selections" that Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden made in the past.

Leatherwood started in all 17 games as a rookie but looked far from a first-round talent. The former Alabama product allowed eight sacks on 1,104 offensive snaps and even took 13 penalties for 83 yards, according to NFL Penalties. At the end of the year, PFF gave him a lowly overall grade of 45.0.

Leatherwood's underwhelming performance had him on the roster bubble ahead of training camp. Unfortunately, his preseason play hasn't done him any favors. He's already been benched once this preseason and has mostly been practicing with Las Vegas' second- and third-string units.

Time is clearly running out for Leatherwood to make his case as to why he should remain a Raider. If things don't work out, there'll surely be a team that believes he's young enough to turn things around. He's owed about $5.9 million in base salary with three years left on his rookie deal, as per Spotrac.

Patriots vs Raiders Odds (Aug. 26)

Leatherwood can convince the Raiders coaching staff that he belongs with a strong performance against the New England Patriots on Friday. The odds are on Las Vegas' side as FanDuel Sportsbook currently lists the Raiders as the slight 1.5-favorites at -110 to cover the spread.

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.