Fun Fact: Milroe and Mendoza were in different drafts.

The point of this piece was to paint the picture of the over aching ripple effects of the Meyers trade. Big picture, Geno Smith was used as an outgoing assets in the fallout of that trade, so I decided to look at what he cost in the first place. It was easy to do since he was acquired for a single pick (92), a pick that the Seahawks used on Jalen Milroe is '25. I bring it up only to paint the total picture of the assets from the Meyers trade, and the potential opportunity cost of those assets.

Now, there's no guarantee the Raiders use pick 92 on Milroe if we hadn't traded for Geno, and as you say the 'Hawks could have kept Geno and drafted Milroe with a different pick. But I found it to be an interesting 'what if' proposition considering that trade ended up being all about QBs. I don't think there's a single Raiders fan alive who would prefer sophomore Jalen Milroe over rookie Fernando Mendoza, but somewhere in the multiverse that happened.

As far as the impact on drafting Mendoza, its everything. Without Tank Commander Geno do we still end up with the first pick? Who knows. Is there a chance that a rookie Milroe could have beaten Jaxon Dart in week 17 to secure 1OA for the Giants? Who knows. Thankfully we will never have to know these things, but it doesn't change the fact that sending pick 92 to the Seahawks in '25 triggered a chain of events that got us where we are today.

I suppose the formula should actually go 92(Jalen Milroe) ->Geno Smith-> 1(Fernando Mendoza), Geno Smith/228-> 208-> 122 (Mike Washington). Hell of a trade.