{"id":709635,"date":"2026-06-17T14:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/709635\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T14:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:25:11","slug":"raiders-insider-hints-at-who-gm-john-spytek-tried-to-trade-up-and-draft-at-pick-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/709635\/","title":{"rendered":"Raiders Insider Hints at Who GM John Spytek Tried to Trade Up and Draft at Pick 83"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Raiders<\/a><\/p>\n

John Spytek has received a lot of praise for his second draft as General Manager of the Raiders, and as many have pointed out, some of Spytek\u2019s best work in this year\u2019s draft came after Fernando Mendoza fell in his lap with the first overall pick. <\/p>\n

Second-round pick Treydan Stukes looks like a starter in the secondary right away and third-round pick Trey Zuhn III could end up competing to start at as many three different positions between now and the start of the season.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret the Raiders loved Zuhn going into the draft, but was he the player Spytek was targeting in the third round?<\/p>\n

Based on a draft video released by the Carolina Panthers earlier this month, the Raiders made a call to the Panthers in the third round of the draft and tried to trade up from pick 91 to pick 83. <\/p>\n

The Panthers turned down the Raiders\u2019 offer (Kansas City was trying to trade up to pick 83, as well) and selected Tennessee wide receiver Chris Brazzell II.<\/p>\n

\"Raiders<\/a><\/p>\n

Ultimately, Spytek didn\u2019t move up from pick 91 and there are a few explanations to why it might have played out that way.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible the Panthers or someone else drafted the player the Raiders wanted, or maybe there wasn\u2019t a team drafting after the Panthers that was interested in trading down. <\/p>\n

It was reported shortly after the draft that the decision makers in Las Vegas liked Indiana running back Kaelon Black, who went to the 49ers one pick ahead of the Raiders, but listening to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter this week, it sounds like Zuhn was the player the Raiders were trying to move up for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you that they liked Trey Zuhn,\u201d Capenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider<\/a> podcast. <\/p>\n

\u201c[He was] the number one offensive linemen in the SEC, and one of the top offensive linemen in America. The Raiders craved him. Multiple teams craved him\u2026 and when he dropped to [the Raiders], it was like Christmas. Let\u2019s just say that in my opinion, the Raiders were considering even moving up to get him. Let\u2019s just say that in Hondo\u2019s opinion. The Raiders were even considering moving up to get them. Let\u2019s leave it there\u2026 They don\u2019t like Trey Zuhn. They love him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Raiders<\/a><\/p>\n

Raiders hit a \u201cHome Run\u201d with Zuhn in Round 3<\/p>\n

CBS Sports analyst Mike Renner said the Zuhn pick was one of his favorite picks of the draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the 91st pick, the Las Vegas Raiders select Texas A&M offensive lineman Trey Zuhn. This is an A plus pick. When you get a guy who\u2019s in my top 50 at 91 overall, I\u2019m obviously going to love it,\u201d Renner said this week on\u00a0Pushing the Pile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it for a number of reasons. One is that Zuhn is super versatile. He\u2019s played left tackle for the majority of his career, but he\u2019s also played center this past year at Texas A&M. I think he could play guard as well. The second reason, he\u2019s super athletic. I mean, the guy on the move is great. He uses his hands really well. His lateral agility is exactly what he\u2019ll need in Klint Kubiak\u2019s offense. In that running scheme, I think he\u2019s a plug and play starter with how much football he\u2019s played. And if you\u2019re getting a plug and play starter on the offensive line at pick 91, you\u2019re hitting a home run.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, it sounds like the plan is to give Zuhn opportunities at multiple positions and figure out where he fits later.<\/p>\n

The California Post\u2019s Vinny Bonsignore talked about Zuhn\u2019s development last week on the team\u2019s flagship radio station, and he believes the rookie is on track to start the year as a backup at multiple positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be really interesting to watch the way he develops and where he kind of slots in. I would imagine just now sitting here, May 21st, he probably ends up being your backup swing guard, center, tackle, you name it, can do everything in the second grouping by the time the season gets rolling,\u201d Bonsignore said on the\u00a0JT the Brick Show<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder what the development looks like for him. If there\u2019s a way he can kind of carve out a role as a starter, likely at that left guard spot. I mean, there\u2019s going to be a lot of guys competing for it there.\u201d<\/p>\n

x: @raidersbeat<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Spytek has received a lot of praise for his second draft as General Manager of the Raiders,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-709635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}