There were a lot of questions on whether the Las Vegas Raiders would address the wide receiver position early during the 2026 NFL Draft, and general manager John Spytek opted to draft just one, Oregon WR Malik Benson, in the sixth round.
Benson, a two-and-a-half-year starter (one year at Oregon), totaled 719 receiving yards in 2025 and provides value on special teams with an 85-yard punt return TD vs. USC last season.
Yet, it’s not the type of impact selection that makes fans feel more comfortable about a wide receiver room that consists of Tre Tucker, Jalen Nailor, Jack Bech, Dont’e Thornton Jr., and Dareke Young.
However, Spytek shared his blunt feelings on the current wide receiver room and the decision not to draft one in the earlier rounds.
Raiders GM John Spytek Shared Blunt Feelings on WR Decision
Joining Kay Adams on her show, John Spytek shared that he’s content with his wide receiver room and understands that there has been some scrutiny from his lack of acquisitions at that position, including from his own kids.
“I like our receiver room,” Spytek said. “I think probably people are going to roll their eyes. I mean everybody loves receivers. This is a question I get from my kids, ‘Dad, like can we have 15 receivers on the roster?’ We live in the fantasy football world. Receiver, receiver, receiver. I value receivers, I do. I really do. But I love Tre Tucker and he’s a good player. And we’re excited about Jalen Nailor and we drafted Jack Bech in the second last year. We have belief in Jack. We drafted Dont’e Thornton in the fourth last year. We believe in him. I’m excited with Malik Benson. We’re not going to force anything. We have a very thorough evaluation of every player at every position and it never goes the way you want it to go, Kay.”
This wide receiver room is young with budding talent. It’s not an established room like some of the other teams boast in the NFL, but it has yet to scratch the surface. Now, the expectation is that the wide receiver room will look a whole lot better from last season, especially now that they’ll be catching balls from Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza.
Spytek Isn’t Shutting the Door on Adding More Wide Receivers
Despite being happy with the wide receiver room, John Spytek made it clear that he also isn’t shutting the door on adding more talent at the position, let alone any other position on the team.
“Listen, we’re never gonna stop turning the roster, we’re not gonna devalue any position. But we’re not gonna force any position, either. And there’s a lot of tough decisions that get made and we’re in the team building exercise here. We’re not in just talent acquisition and we’ve got to be mindful of every position room in our team and the right way to build the football team. It so happens I went to Michigan and so that’s at my core a little bit too, right? 21, 22 personnel, I mean I’d love to have three fullbacks on this roster, nobody ever asks me why we only have one fullback. But, I’m excited about our guys. They’re good guys. They work hard. We’re gonna put a good system in place to highlight what they do well. And we’ll see if anyone else becomes available that we think makes our room better.”
Regardless of what happens, it looks like the Raiders are content with heading into training camp and preseason with the wide receivers that are on the roster. But if there’s an opportunity to bring in someone who will make the WR room better, Spytek will make it happen.
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