The Las Vegas Raiders have had a nightmare start to the 2025 season, highlighted by poor quarterback play. After trading for Geno Smith in the offseason, the 12-year veteran has struggled badly. He’s thrown a league-leading nine interceptions, and as a result, the Raiders sit at 1-4, sparking buzz about whether the team should look to acquire someone like Shedeur Sanders.
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This suggestion didn’t come from any NFL insider, though. In fact, it came from a Raider fan and Oakland native, Damian Lillard.
The NBA star, currently rehabbing from a torn Achilles, had some time to watch his favorite team on Sunday. But after seeing Smith throw two interceptions while Vegas got hammered 40-6, he knew enough.
Lillard took to X to profess that the Raiders should make a trade for Shedeur. “He not washed… He just turning the ball over. But it’s time to get Shedeur on the team and get ready for the future,” he tweeted.
Naturally, this post went viral, and many Raiders fans agreed with Lillard. After all, trading for Shedeur wouldn’t be the worst idea, considering how bad Smith has been. It feels pointless to continue rolling out a 34-year-old who consistently offers little upside.
Yet, NFL analysts don’t seem to be on board with this idea. Especially Emmanuel Acho, who took the time to point out that the Raiders have already traded for a QB they wanted from the Cleveland Browns.
“The Raiders had the Browns quarterback they wanted to pick, and they picked Pickett,” Acho said on Speakeasy.
This is a point that not many have considered. Kenny Pickett is currently listed as the QB2 on the Raiders’ depth chart, a player they traded for right before the season started after Aiden O’Connell went down with a wrist injury. Sin City could have traded for Shedeur then.
And as Acho later added, Shedeur was even passed over by the Raiders and Tom Brady during the draft.
“Tom Brady had the opportunity to draft Shedeur, and he didn’t. Then he had the opportunity to trade for Sheduer, and then he didn’t. This is nonsense,” Acho stated.
This was another excellent point. Despite having rumors of being tied to Shedeur, Brady forgoed drafting the Colorado QB at every opportunity. Not exactly the best sign that the GOAT believes in the young gunslinger.
Acho went on to ask whether people really want to see Shedeur on a team as bad as the Raiders.
“You want to put Sheduer behind a porous offensive line, and a depleted roster, and a young Ashton Jeanty, and hope that he still has what? Y’all are trying to set Sheduer up for failure,” the analyst reasoned.
To cap it off, the former linebacker added that the NFL isn’t a league where you try things out just for the fun of it.
“In what world is the NFL a ‘Give it a shot’ league? Just give it a shot. You know what? It’s not shooting dice… You gotta go earn what’s yours.”
Sometimes, Acho can get caught up giving ridiculous takes that everyone goes against. But he was right on the money here. Sending Shedeur to the Raiders would not be good for his career or the franchise. The team is a mess, and they would drag the rookie down right along with them. Fans of the Shedeur should express distaste for the idea.
Although we get it, people want to see him play. He was an exciting QB in college, and some fans really think he can make a difference in the NFL.
At this point, though, everyone is just getting impatient, and they want to see fast what Shedeur’s got in store. And how could they not while watching guys like Smith continue to underperform weekly?
