The Las Vegas Raiders had a very busy offseason, but new general manager John Spytek has shown a lot of discipline early on. Instead of spending a ton of money on big-name free agents or trading for disgruntled star skill position players, he's exercised a more patient approach.
However, the Raiders did have a big need at wide receiver this offseason, and DK Metcalf was an obvious fit due to his previous ties with head coach Pete Carroll. The team already made one trade with the Seattle Seahawks by dealing for Geno Smith, so another transaction wouldn't have been out of the question.
Pittsburgh Steelers WR DK Metcalf.
Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Plus, it sounds like Metcalf really wanted to go to Las Vegas. Carroll was a guest on Da Get Got Pod With Marshawn Lynch & Mike Robinson. The topic of Smith coming to the Raiders came up, which led Lynch to talk about how Carroll wanted to bring a lot of former Seahawks to Las Vegas.
"I know, remember DK (Metcalf) wanted to go there," Robinson chimed in.
They quickly moved on from that talking point, but it was a very interesting note for Robinson to drop.
He was a former Seahawks player, and Lynch played with Metcalf briefly, so it stands to reason that they'd have some insight into his thought process. It's not entirely clear why the Raiders wouldn't have wanted to trade for the star wide receiver.
He did end up costing the Steelers $132 million once he got traded, so perhaps the team just didn't want to pay him that kind of money after a trade.
