It’s looking like there’s a good chance the Las Vegas Raiders could draft a wide receiver with their second pick. The team has met with many top prospects ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft.
At No. 36, the Raiders should have plenty of intriguing options available to them. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza is expected to be their top pick, and much of this offseason has been about setting him up for success.
The Raiders’ wide receiver room is very limited. The depth isn’t strong, and there isn’t a ton of proven talent at the top. If the team wants Mendoza to have success, he needs to have more players to throw to than star tight end Brock Bowers. He had a ton of success with Omar Cooper Jr. last season at Indiana.
NFL.com’s Matt Okada loves the idea of the Raiders trying to trade back into the first round to secure Cooper. He even pitched the team reaching out to the Philadelphia Eagles.
“There are a number of realistic trades that I could see happening in Round 1, but the move I want to see most? Give me the Raiders investing in their prospective franchise quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, by landing his favorite target from Indiana,” Okada wrote. “If wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. is still on the board later in the first round, I’d love to see John Spytek maneuver up from Las Vegas’ Round 2 slot (36th overall) to score a WR1 with prebuilt chemistry (and a fifth-year option). Top target for the move: Howie Roseman and the Eagles at No. 23, just ahead of the receiver-hungry Browns.”
Is Cooper Worth Trading Up For?
The risk with trading up for Cooper is that there is at least a slight chance he’ll be available to the Raiders at No. 36 without them having to give up assets. He’s coming off a season where he had 69 catches for 937 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Considering most of those catches came from Mendoza passes, it has to be appealing to reunite the two at the NFL level. That said, there is a lot of good wide receiver talent in this draft that the Raiders won’t need to trade up for.
Would Las Vegas have to give up next year’s first-round pick to trade with the Eagles? It’s possible. That’s a potentially high price to pay for a wide receiver, especially since next year’s draft class is expected to be much stronger.
Mendoza & Cooper Only Played One Season Together
It’s certainly a fun idea to reunite Cooper and Mendoza at the NFL level, but this isn’t a longstanding partnership. The two only played one season together at Indiana. It’s not like they have chemistry that has built up over multiple seasons.
That’s why it’s hard to see the Raiders giving up assets to trade up for Cooper. Now, if he falls to No. 36, that would make a ton of sense. He fits what the Raiders need. If the team could move up back into the first round without having to give up a future first-round pick, then it could be appealing, but it would be wiser for them to save their future picks.
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