The Las Vegas Raiders made the right decision to hire John Spytek, and we have already seen that on display in just the few short months he has been with the team. His roster building has reflected that, and some of the other things he has done or hasn't done have reflected that as well.
Being a great general manager usually takes some time. But it feels like Spytek, as Pete Carroll has said, has been around the block a few times. Being Jason Licht's right-hand man with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has helped Spytek prepare for any and everything the league was ready to throw at him with the Raiders.
He was tasked with putting together a roster that is competitive and better in his and Carroll's first season together, and if you ask me, he has knocked that goal out of the park. And there is one thing specifically he has already mastered that usually takes new general managers a while to perfect.
Raiders general manager John Spytek has perfected art of deception
Yes, it's an actual art, especially when you're a general manager. You have to be able to lie while also making others believe those lies. Yes, it sounds terrible and cruel, but it's true. Being a general manager requires you to get what you want to be done by any means necessary, that are legal, of course.
In Spytek's case, it's all about the players he got in the draft and after the draft.
Kalyn Kahler of ESPN wrote a cool story about Spytek and how he has done that so far, and it all starts with the Ashton Jeanty saga with the Raiders. She doesn't mention this, but the Raiders had their pick so played out and confusing to everyone that the Kelvin Banks rumors started the day of the draft, and that was never going to happen. Spytek had people leaking out false information on purpose, and man did it work.
The idea was that he wanted people to think he was going to pass on Jeanty, so other teams didn't think they had to move up above LV to get him. The whole son situation that Spytek brought up this offseason about his 10-year-old son saying he would leave the family if Jeanty wasn't picked? Yeah, it was all a lie. He wanted people to think, "Now why would Spytek listen to a 10-year-old?"
And then there is the deception with the UDFA signings, where he didn't invcite them to pre-draft visits because he didn't want other teams to notice the player.
Spytek is ahead of the curve already. Sure, Tom Telesco drafted Brock Bowers, but Spytek is already proving to be the much better GM.
