Armed with a hefty amount of picks in the 2023 NFL Draft, the Las Vegas Raiders did well in the early stages to get two building blocks on both sides of the football field.
With the No. 7 overall pick in the draft, the Raiders drafted pass rusher Tyree Wilson who boasts tremendous upside. Las Vegas followed the Wilson pick up by trading up in the second round to grab Michael Mayer with the No. 35 selection. Both Wilson and Mayer were highly-touted prospects coming into the draft, and they land with the Raiders who needed the infusion of talent.
In total, Las Vegas made nine picks in the draft and will now spend the next couple of weeks trying to sign their rookies to deals. Coming into the draft, the Raiders were just shy of having enough cap space to sign all of them but were able to make room by restructuring Chandler Jones’s contract via Field Yates of ESPN:
Prior to the start of Day 2 of the draft, per source:
The 49ers restructured the contract of RB Christian McCaffrey to create $8.576M in salary cap space.
The Raiders restructured the contract of OLB Chandler Jones, creating $5.068M in cap space.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) April 28, 2023
The extra breathing room gives Las Vegas enough space to sign their draft class as well as go after any last-minute free agents still left on the market. It’s good work from the Raiders front office to give them some flexibility when it comes to their cap sheet.
Jones had an underwhelming first season with the Silver and Black, and though he’s penciled in as a starter, he could end up ceding more work to Wilson. Jones is under contract for one more season following the 2023 campaign and would be an easy cut, so Wilson might not have to wait very long until he is a full-time player on the defensive end for Las Vegas.
Wilson is a talented player who’s got the size, athleticism and measurables to make an impact on Day 1. Although Maxx Crosby and Jones are currently ahead of him on the depth chart, he should still see the field early on in his rookie season.
With the draft out of the way, the Raiders can work on fleshing out the rest of their team ahead of the new season. With new players and more talent on the roster, it’ll be interesting to see how they fare once the 2023 season kicks off.
