Silver Minings: Did Panthers outbid Raiders for No. 1 overall pick?

Carolina was worried Las Vegas would trade for the top pick

The Carolina Panthers made a blockbuster trade last week that shook up the NFL Draft order and may have altered the Las Vegas Raiders’ draft plans, sending picks No. 9 and 61, a first-round pick in 2024 and a second-rounder in 2025 along with wide receiver D.J. Moore to the Chicago Bears in exchange for No. 1 overall.

Carolina, a quarterback-needy team who just leapfrogged Las Vegas in the draft order, unloaded quite a few assets to Chicago to presumptively select their next QB of the future and the Silver and Black may have played a hand in raising the price tag.

According to Bally Sports’ Adam Silver, the Panthers were worried the Raiders and Indianapolis Colts were also making the Bears an offer so they sweetened the deal. Las Vegas could have put together a trade package that included the seventh overall selection, and the same with Indianapolis and the fourth overall. However, an additional future first-rounder, two seconds and a young up-and-coming receiver are hard to beat.

Who knows if that means general manager Dave Ziegler and head coach Josh McDaniels actually engaged in trade talks with Bears’ GM Ryan Poles, but it’s interesting that another team in the league viewed them as a threat to trade up.

Right now, the Raiders are slated to draft seventh overall at the end of next month but we’ll see if that changes between today and draft day. With free agency kicking off this week, we will get a better idea of what their plans are under center and that will obviously have an impact on their draft strategy.

In other Raiders links:

• Maxx Crosby reworks contract: the move will save the Raiders a little more than $7.5 million against the cap, per ESPN’s Field Yates.
• Dane Brugler sends Will Levis to Vegas: “There is no doubt that Josh McDaniels and the Raiders will be interested in Levis’ package of skills. Enough to draft him here? Time will tell,” The Athletic’s lead NFL Draft analyst wrote.
• Exit from Raiders ‘lit a fire’ in Derek Carr: “For me as a competitor, I wanted to finish with my teammates,” the Saints new QB said. “… It lit a fire in me, that I’ve always had, but it just made it hot. It gave me this excitement.”
• Jalen Ramsey to the Dolphins: the Rams traded the cornerback for a third-round pick and tight end Hunter Long, leaving Raiders fans to ask: “McDaniels and Ziegler couldn’t do any better than that?”