Scott Gulbransen
The noise is getting louder. Reports are swirling that the Las Vegas Raiders could look to add a veteran wide receiver this summer, with Tyreek Hill, Stefon Diggs and Deebo Samuel among the names getting floated. It’s the kind of headline that makes fans scroll and click.
It’s also exactly the wrong idea.
John Spytek and Klint Kubiak are in Year One of building this roster around Fernando Mendoza. The No. 1 overall pick is the entire point. Everything in this organization right now should be pointed in one direction and throwing cap money and locker room oxygen at aging, baggage-laden receivers runs directly counter to that. You don’t develop a franchise quarterback by surrounding him with chaos. You don’t rebuild by recycling someone else’s problems.
Let’s go through each name, because none of them deserve a pass here.
Tyreek Hill
Tyreek Hill is the most obvious non-starter. The NFL is currently investigating him under the personal conduct policy after his estranged wife, Keeta Vaccaro, alleged eight separate incidents of domestic violence in divorce filings, including incidents that reportedly occurred while she was pregnant. Those allegations became public after six news outlets fought to unseal the court documents, and what came out was ugly. Hill has denied everything and his attorneys have called the claims a shakedown, but this is his third known domestic violence allegation. He pleaded guilty to domestic assault and battery by strangulation back in 2015. The NFL cleared him then, and in 2019, and each time he kept playing. There is no guarantee he will avoid a suspension in 2026 while this investigation is still unresolved.
Even setting aside the conduct issues entirely, Hill is 32, coming off a season-ending knee injury and carries a contract number that Miami wouldn’t pay. The Raiders would be bringing in a receiver who might not be available in Week 1, who comes with a circus that would swallow every press conference Kubiak holds, and who adds exactly zero to Fernando Mendoza’s development. Mendoza needs structure and stability in Year One. Hill is neither of those things.
Stefon Diggs
Stefon Diggs is being painted as the cleaner option, but he has his own problems. He’s 32 and turns 33 in November, was released by New England in March after the Patriots decided his $20.6 million base salary wasn’t worth it, and entered this offseason facing felony strangulation charges stemming from an alleged incident with his personal chef. The NFL closed its investigation for insufficient evidence, and Diggs was not convicted, so the legal cloud has technically lifted. That’s relevant. But every team with a receiver needs this offseason to look at Diggs and pass. There is a reason he is still sitting at home in late June, and it isn’t because teams don’t know who he is.
The Patriots got a 1,000-yard season out of him last year and you could argue his body held up. But his production dipped badly in the playoffs and his best days in Buffalo feel like a different era. Signing Diggs would be a short-term band-aid on a long-term build and the Raiders have been burned too many times by that logic. The Davante Adams trade cost a first-rounder and a second. It delivered dysfunction and a mid-round compensatory pick on the way out. The front office does not need to repeat the pattern at a smaller scale.
Related: Las Vegas Raiders Connected to Trade for 24-Year-Old Receiver
Deebo Samuel
Deebo Samuel is 30, unsigned, and hasn’t topped 865 yards from scrimmage in three of his last four seasons. He’s missed games in seven consecutive years. He is a player whose physical, YAC-heavy game has always depended on staying healthy and playing fast and neither is a given anymore. Washington used him effectively in a limited role in 2025, but the Commanders’ best skill-position players were injured for much of that season, inflating his numbers. Multiple teams have been identified as fits and none of them have called. That says something.
The Raiders Like Their Wide Receiver Room…For Now
The Raiders’ receiver room is thin. Tre Tucker is a legitimate piece. Jack Bech and Dont’e Thornton are young and developing. Jalen Nailor adds depth. Is it a Super Bowl receiving corps? Obviously not. But this team is not building for a Super Bowl run in 2026 and pretending otherwise by signing a name receiver on the wrong side of 30 only creates false expectations that complicate everything Kubiak and Mendoza are trying to do.
Brock Bowers is already one of the best tight ends in the league. Ashton Jeanty gives this offense a legitimate ground threat. Kirk Cousins is the bridge that protects Mendoza while he develops. The Raiders have the framework of a functioning offense without going out and paying top dollar for damaged goods at receiver.
Wide receiver can wait. The 2027 draft class will exist. Free agency next March will exist. If Mendoza earns the starting job and plays his way into needing a true No. 1 weapon, that is the moment to go get one. Not now. Not with these players.
The Raiders spent years chasing names instead of building rosters. Tom Brady’s ownership stake and the Spytek-Kubiak front office represent something different. Don’t blow it trying to manufacture relevance before training camp even opens.
