Gutierrez: After a statement free agency, Spytek faces the draft that matters most

Mar 30, 2026 at 03:32 PM

Paul Gutierrez

Raiders Columnist

PHOENIX - A general manager's job, to borrow a phrase, is never done.

Not even when, by all accounts, said GM absolutely cooked in free agency. But definitely not when there's still meat left on the bone.

Just ask Raiders GM John Spytek, who has barely had a chance to enjoy the afterglow of free agency. After all, the calendar calls.

"Yeah, I like the draft way more than I like free agency," Spytek told me with a laugh at the NFL Annual Meeting here at the Arizona Biltmore Resort. "So, it's actually like a breath of fresh air to get into the draft prep. But it's just … you're onto the next thing and there's not a lot of time in between [free agency and the draft].

"And so, we got through the first wave and there's still a few things that we might do here and there to kind of bolster the roster. But all eyes are fixated towards the draft now."

A quick recap, then…

That bit about cooking in free agency? Chef Spy and Co. brought in a couple of heat-seeking missiles in linebackers Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker. They addressed the need for another edge rusher in Kwity Paye. They added speed to the receiver room in Jalen Nailor. And brought in the crown jewel of free agent offensive linemen in center Tyler Linderbaum.

Oh yeah, the Raiders also acquired veteran cornerback Taron Johnson in a trade and re-signed cornerback Eric Stokes and defensive end Malcolm Koonce.

See, cookin'.

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But how would Spytek himself assess what the Raiders accomplished in free agency?

"We had a great plan that we put together with the personnel staff," he said, before crediting by name assistant GM Brian Stark, vice president of player personnel Brandon Hunt, assistant director of pro scouting Ben Chester, pro scout Jordan Brown and pro scout Jordon Hein.

"They wrote [scouting reports on] everybody in the league this year, and we were super thorough. We had many great conversations throughout the season about how we wanted to really attack this going forward."

Meaning?

"We wanted to get younger, we wanted to target the right kind of people and so I'm just proud of the work that they put in," Spytek said. "It was a great, collaborative teamwork while we were waiting to fill out the coaching staff.

"And then, we waited until after the Super Bowl, obviously, to have Klint [Kubiak]. And then that was kind of accelerated just with the coaching staff and try to put it all together. But I thought we had a really, really great process with our scouts and the coaches together, and we were able to really feel like we did a good job in free agency of making the Raiders better."

But as Spytek mentioned, the Raiders might still make a signing, or three, before the draft.

After all, Aidan O'Connell is the only QB currently under contract. And yes, the Raiders still hold that No. 1 draft pick and have been linked from here to Las Vegas to Oakland to Los Angeles to Oakland again to Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza.

Still, a veteran signal-caller is needed, yes? And a popular name making its rounds here at the meetings belongs to Kirk Cousins.

"Aidan's played a lot of good football in this league," Spytek said. "He's started. He's thrown for 300 yards in games. He's a great teammate. He works his tail off. He's smart.

"Obviously, he's the only quarterback on the roster right now, and, at a premium position, I think it's a fair question to ask, and we're considering a bunch of different things right now. I think we'll have some answers here in the coming weeks."

If it seems like Spytek is more comfortable this go-round, well, you're not wrong. You may not be entirely right either, though.

"I don't know if I am more comfortable, I don't think this is a job of comfort," he said with a, well, uncomfortable laugh. "A little more confidence, maybe, knowing what's coming. Knowing that … you'll be able to just take the information as it comes and deal with it.

"I've got a great group of people around me that have had a lot of success everywhere they've been. We were kind of joking on one of the initial Zoom interviews for the head coaches, there was 13 Super Bowl rings sitting on that Zoom. Now, over half of them were from one guy."

Paging Tom Brady.

"But you know, there's a trust. There's just a trust and a belief that the group of us will figure out. We know each other well, we communicate really well and then adding Klint and his staff to it has been great as well."

The work begins anew.

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A Sports Medicine Concepts coordinator speaks to athletic trainers and coaches during a Pro Football Cares Sports Emergency Response Training at Intermountain Health Performance Center.