Las Vegas Raiders: Stealing one player from each AFC West rival

If the Las Vegas Raiders could steal from AFC West foes, who would they take?

Since Jon Gruden took over as head coach of the now-Las Vegas Raiders, he has remained steadfast in remaking the roster in his image. And to this point, there has been a noticeable upswing with the silver and black. While they aren’t competing at the top of the NFL right now, they’re building into something reliable and competitive, which was not always the case.

The most recent insurgence of talent came in the 2020 offseason. The Raiders answered a long-standing need at inside linebacker by signing Cory Littleton and then used the draft to select a litany of wide receiver weapons that they were lacking, including the lightning-fast Henry Ruggs III, in addition to selecting cornerback Damon Arnette.

While the Raiders are on the rise as a franchise as they prepare for their first season playing in Las Vegas, they are still not at the top of their own division, the AFC West. After all, they play in the same division as the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.

To put it simply, the Las Vegas Raiders still have additions and moves to make before they are in Super Bowl contention and, perhaps, even playoff contention. It will likely take another offseason in their long-term plan before they can even be in that conversation, if we’re being honest.

However, if we were to try and streamline the Raiders’ rebuild by allowing them to steal one player from each division rival in the AFC West, that would undoubtedly move things along much faster.

So in this thought exercise, that’s what we’re going to do. These are the players they would snatch from every team in the AFC West if the Raiders had the opportunity to do so.