The Oakland Raiders are quickly losing their 2012 draft. In a trade announced early Tuesday before the NFL deadline, the team sent their first-round pick in 2012 and a conditional first/second-round pick in 2013 to the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for quarterback Carson Palmer. They're now without much of their 2012 draft, including first- and second-round picks.
With an ongoing search for a new general manager, how might this trade have an effect on it? It's possible that a high-profile candidate wouldn't want to take over a team with so little possibility of adding young players this offseason, but one could argue that the team has enough young talent to make it an attractive option. Guys like Rolando McClain, Denarius Moore, Jacoby Ford ... there's a lot for potential GMs to like.
What might have an effect on things is how the trade was made. Most reports are saying that Raiders head coach Hue Jackson had a lot to do with the decision to go with Palmer over Eagles quarterback Vince Young. Jackson is a first-year head coach and many figured he wouldn't factor much into the GM discussion, as far as how he'd share responsibility with a potential GM.
If a general manager feels like he wouldn't have enough power in Oakland, he may be driven off. It is likely, however, that Jackson was just stepping up near the trade deadline because there was nobody else to do so - nobody in power. Jackson liked the on-the-field product and urged the team to keep their feet on the pedal, and thus the Palmer trade has been made.
At the the very least though, it shows that Jackson isn't afraid to get into personnel matters, and that's something that any general manager will need to consider, whether they think it's a good thing or a bad thing.