4 Las Vegas Raiders who should be traded next as Davante Adams deal fires up rebuild

After weeks of speculation, the wait is finally over: The Las Vegas Raiders have traded star wideout Davante Adams, sending the disgruntled All-Pro to the New York Jets in exchange for a conditional third-round pick (that can become a second-round pick if Adams hits certain performance thresholds with his new team).

As Vegas' season went downhill — and Adams let his frustration with the franchise be known in various ways — this move felt increasingly inevitable. And while we certainly won't argue that losing a player of Adams' caliber is a good thing, at least it comes with a silver lining: This whole saga is officially behind the Raiders, and they can at long last focus squarely on what comes next — a true rebuild.

At 2-4 and in last place in the AFC West, Vegas isn't anywhere near serious contention; its decision to deal Adams is admission enough of that. Now Mark Davis is presented with a choice: Play out the string this season, keep the roster intact and remain stuck in NFL purgatory, or stockpile as many draft picks as possible in hopes of bottoming out and finally landing the franchise quarterback that this franchise has sought for years now. If the Raiders choose the latter, here's where the fire sale should begin.

5. Gardner Minshew

Minshew clearly isn't a starting-caliber quarterback, but there's ample evidence that he's at least an above-aveage backup — and in such a QB-starved league, there's always a trade market for one of those. Let Aidan O'Connell finish the year to see what you have there while landing a pick in exchange for a passer who isn't going to be a part of this team's plans moving forward.

4. Kolton Miller

Miller is a perfectly serviceable offensive tackle, but he's already 29 and has a troubling injury history. His timeline doesn't fit with where Vegas is right now — who knows whether a mid-30s Miller will still be healthy and effective by the time this team is ready to contend again — and he's only under contract through the 2025 season. Much like QB, teams are always in search of startable linemen, and the Raiders have enough other building blocks up front to let Miller go.

3. Jakobi Meyers

On the one hand, Vegas needs someone to play receiver for the rest of the year. But if we're going to bottom out, let's really bottom out: The Raiders are likely to get a decent return for a solid starting receiver on a reasonable contract — we know at least one team had interest before the start of the season — and they aren't in a position to be turning that down in order to keep a player who isn't a star and only has one more year remaining on his deal.

2. Michael Mayer

The Raiders surely don't love the idea of cutting bait with a player they took in the second round just 18 months ago, but think of this as a good thing: The emergence of rookie Brock Bowers at tight end makes Mayer expendable, especially given his lack of production this season (and his missing the last two games due to personal reasons). While he's expendable in Vegas, he's likely to catch the eye of at least a couple GMs around the league who may have been high on the Notre Dame product ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft.

1. Maxx Crosby

We saved the biggest one for last. Crosby has tried to put Sunday's controversy behind him, but it sure doesn't seem like he's thrilled with how things are going in Vegas right now, and the Adams trade doesn't figure to help matters. Crosby has two years remaining on his current deal, and it's hard to believe that he'll still be in his prime by the time the Raiders are finally ready to contend for the AFC crown. He also represents the team's last best chance at a meaningful draft capital upgrade; with Adams gone, there's no one else who could realistically command an early pick — the sort of pick that could eventually land Vegas a franchise QB, which should be priority No. 1 right now.