Oakland Raiders: Interest In Sherman Being Wildly Overblown

The Oakland Raiders are being heavily linked to Seattle’s standout cornerback, but the buzz doesn’t come close to matching the reality of the situation.

Hey, did you hear? The Oakland Raiders are on the verge of pulling the trigger on a deal for Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman! At least, that’s the impression you would get from reading some of the headlines running around the Interwebs over the last couple of days.

The Raider Nation, already on fire with the Marshawn Lynch un-retirement and to the Raiders talk, has been set ablaze again this week, with the speculation that the team may have some interest in picking up Sherman to augment their secondary.

It’s a perception that’s being pushed by headlines like, “Reports Indicate Raiders May Have Interest In Sherman.”

That piece put out Doug Williams of NBC Bay Area is – ridiculous on its face. It’s a headline clearly intended to earn some clicks because there is absolutely nothing substantive in the piece itself indicating that the Raiders actually are – you know – interested in Sherman.

Williams though, is leaning heavily on a piece put out by Daniel Mano and Jimmy Durkin of The Mercury News. In that piece, Durkin and Mano merely pose a question about whether or not Sherman could be traded to the Raiders.

Of course, Durkin and Mano weave plenty of unfounded speculation into their piece – and they lay it on pretty thick. They do a good job of giving the impression that there’s something going on behind the scenes we’re not privvy to. For example, they cite a quote from Seahawks GM John Schneider:

"“What you’ve seen lately in the news is real. That’s on both sides. It’s just open communication. … I don’t know if anything would ever happen. But like I tell people all the time, 98 percent of the things we’re involved with, we don’t follow through with. But at least we’ve opened that door, gone down the road and seen what’s behind Door A or Door B.”"

They follow that up with the seemingly innocuous question, “Could the Raiders be behind Door A?”

They then follow up that seemingly innocuous question by then coming to the source of their speculation – a Fox Sports article suggesting that the Raiders could be the “second-most desirable destination for Sherman.”

However, to be fair, Durkin and Mano did point out that it was “all speculation at this point.” And that’s the point at which their piece diverges from that of Williams. While their posed a genuine question, Williams’ piece is clearly intended to give the impression that something is in the works.

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Williams’ piece was clearly intended to draw some eyeballs and garner some clicks as there are no “reports indicating the Raiders may have interest in trading for Sherman.” None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

So, what do we really know about Sherman’s status at this point? He’s available for a trade. If reports – actual reports this time – that have broken today are true, that trade request was apparently initiated by Sherman. And the Seahawks are reportedly asking a pretty steep price for anybody interested in trading for the mercurial cornerback.

And oh yeah, as of yet, nobody from the Raiders front office has made any public overtures or clearly expressed interest in dealing for Sherman.

That could change, but those are the facts on the ground today.

Somebody opining that the Raiders are a “desirable” location for Sherman (even if it’s only the second-most desirable) isn’t in the same ballpark – it’s actually not even the same sport – as the Raiders, as an organization, “having interest” in making a deal for him.

But, that seems to be the state of things, when attracting clicks seem more important than factual content.