Oakland Raiders: Reggie McKenzie Keeping Himself Busy Before The Draft

The Oakland Raiders, flush with offensive weaponry, are reportedly putting tight end Mychal Rivera up on the trade block.

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Give it to Oakland Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie – he certainly knows how to keep himself busy. Coming off the initial wave of free agency, McKenzie improved the team tremendously with the acquistion of marquee free agents like Sean Smith, Kelechi Osemele, and Bruce Irvin. Now, in the period between free agency and the draft, McKenzie is refining his roster – and is reportedly, shopping tight end Mychal Rivera.

The Raiders drafted Rivera in the sixth round of the 2013 draft and he made a solid impression in his first season, hauling in 38 passes for 407 yards and four touchdowns. In 2014, Rivera became a steady, reliable target for then-rookie Derek Carr, grabbing 58 receptions for 534 yards and four scores.

But with the new coaching regime led by Jack Del Rio – not to mention, the emergence of rookie Clive Walford in 2015, Rivera had his worst statistical season as a pro. It was clear that the coaching staff favored Walford for his athleticism – and superior blocking skills – and Rivera’s stats tapered off to just 32 receptions for 280 yards and one touchdown as he was more or less phased out of the offense.

You can’t really blame Del Rio and OC Bill Musgrave for wanting to Walford more involved in the action. At 6’4” and 254 pounds, Walford is a pretty decent blocker. But he’s also a good blocker with tremendous athleticism and hands. As the season wore on and Walford became more comfortable in the system, he was regularly getting more snaps than Rivera and accounted for 28 catches for 329 yards and three touchdowns – with 15 of his receptions coming in over the final five games of the season, compared to just 10 for Rivera.

Ideally, the Raiders would find a way to use both tight ends as they’ve proven to be pretty decent offensive weapons. But it is apparently not to be as McKenzie is reportedly shopping Rivera, who is entering the final year of his rookie deal.

Rivera is just 25 years old and has proven that he can be a valuable offensive commodity. Unfortunately, with the Raiders already sitting on Walford, Lee Smith, and Gabe Holmes at the position, Rivera is the odd man out. He’s not going to put up eye popping fantasy stats, nor can he be counted on to be a devastating blocker, but he can be relied on to be a solid – if unspectacular – receiving tight end.

It’s not likely that Rivera is going to bring in a king’s ransom in a trade. At best, he will likely bring a late round pick back to the Raiders. Which, given how McKenzie operates, is likely just fine. We all know how McKenzie likes to collect and hoard his draft picks. And given his track record, he usually can flip those late round draft picks into a solid player – look no further than Latavius Murray, Travis Carrie, and Rivera himself as proof of that.

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McKenzie isn’t done tinkering with his roster. He’s going to add and subtract pieces until the bitter end. Dealing Rivera is just the opening salvo in his war to make Oakland dominant once more.