3 players the Raiders should trade this offseason

1. Cory Littleton

It’s impossible to classify Cory Little’s signing as anything other than a costly free-agency miss by the franchise. The idea of signing him as a linebacker who could hold up in coverage made a lot of sense. The ugly truth is that Little just hasn’t played nearly as well for the Raiders as he did with the Rams before making the move.

Littleton’s projected cap hit of just under $14 million for 2021 makes him a guy Las Vegas would dearly love to move. The challenge is that other NFL teams will view that as a highly toxic contract. If the Raiders want to get him off of their books, they may have to part with a valuable draft asset to coax another team to take him on.

The silver lining to Littleton’s current deal is that it does contain a relatively painless out after next season. It’s at least conceivable that another team would take a shot on Littleton with the idea they can extract some value out of him next season before tearing up his deal and trying to re-sign him to a more team-friendly deal moving forward.

The odds favor the Raiders being forced to eat another year of Littleton’s contract, but he is absolutely someone Mike Mayock and the team’s front office will try to move this offseason. His departure won’t get Las Vegas anything of note. The best they can hope for is to dump him without attaching too much draft compensation.