The Las Vegas Raiders don’t have a “No. 1 wide receiver” on their roster right now, and likely won’t find one until next offseason. One potential option could be trading with the Minnesota Vikings for Justin Jefferson, who CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell thinks will ask for a trade by the 2028 offseason due to the Vikings’ unstable quarterback situation.
Likely landing spot: Las Vegas Raiders
It’s hard to project how the NFL landscape will look years down the road, but the Raiders make plenty of sense for
a multitude of reasons. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, will need a true WR1 to complement All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers, and Las Vegas has shown a willingness to trade for a superstar wide receiver at the back of the end their 20s: The Raiders traded a first-round draft choice and a second-round draft choice to the Green Bay Packers in 2022 in exchange for a 29-year-old Davante Adams. They’ll make a similar effort to go all in on their offensive core of Mendoza, Bowers and 2025 sixth overall pick running back Ashton Jeanty.
Podell also lists a first- and a third-round pick as the compensation to get the deal done, as that’s similar to what the Philadelphia Eagles received from the New England Patriots–a 2028 first and 2027 fifth–for A.J. Brown earlier this month.
To be clear, this is completely hypothetical, and Jefferson hasn’t asked for trade or even indicated that he wants out of Minnesota. But he did have the least-productive season of his career in 2025, and J.J. McCarthy being arguably the worst starting quarterback in the league last year was a big reason for that. However, the Vikings did add Kyler Murray in the offseason.
But if neither McCarthy nor Murray proves to be the team’s answer at the most important position on the field this season, it wouldn’t be out of the question for the superstar wide receiver to ask for a trade. If that’s the case, his connection to Klint Kubiak could boost the Raiders’ odds.
Kubiak was the Vikings’ quarterbacks coach when Jefferson was drafted in 2020 before getting promoted to offensive coordinator the following season. Jefferson had 108 catches for 1,616 yards and 10 touchdowns with Kubiak calling the plays in 2021.
In Other Raiders’ Links:
- Maxx Crosby cryptic post: the defensive end has people wondering what he means after tweeting/posting on X: “STOP PEOPLE PLEASING. HANDLE BUSINESS ACCORDINGLY,” with an eagle and diamond emoji.
- Raheem Mostert on Ashton Jeanty: “He is one of them ones now, but he is definitely one of them. He different. I’ve witnessed this stuff with my own eyes,” Mostert said of Jeanty on Terron Armstead’s The Set podcast. “The type of stuff he did in practice and then in the game, and it translated. I’ve never seen a dude run over another dude and just keep running. The way he lowered his shoulder, it was crazy. He did that multiple times, not just once.”
- 2021 re-draft: S&BP’s Tristen Kuhn revisits the Raiders’ 2021 draft haul and provides alternate picks at the same position for each selection.
- Celebrating Snake: fans reminisce about the Hall of Fame quarterback’s career and their favorite memories of him.
