Oakland Raiders ability to trade number 3 pick may be limited

The Oakland Raiders have a lot of holes on their roster and many have predicted that in order to help fill those holes, the Raiders will attempt to trade their first round draft pick, the number three over all pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. After the Redskins were able to pull in a small fortune in last year's draft, the Raiders are likely hopeful about hauling in their own booty.

But according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, first round trades are likely to be less plentiful in 2013.

This should not be surprising to anyone who follows the NFL closely. Last year's draft produced Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III in the first two picks with plenty of other quality players to follow in later picks. This year, there is no consensus number one pick, there is no stud quarterback, let alone two, and there do not appear to be teams who are salivating at the chance to move up in the draft.

Add to the lack of star players the fact that, as Mike Mayock puts it, there is not a big difference in talent between the 5 and 25 player, and no one in the top 5 appears to be a game changer. However, while initially this makes the prospects for trades appear weak for the Raiders, they may have just lucked out with their position.

First, it should be noted that a lot of information about draft eligible players will come out between now and the draft and it is more than likely that the talking heads over at ESPN will start touting the great aspects of certain players until they are thought to be can't miss. So while no one is seen as a game changer now, that will chenge by the time the draft hits in April.

Second, the lack of depth in the draft may actually wind up benefiting the Raiders. If there are teams who believe one of the top three players is the key to their woes and knows that the talent will significantly drop off after the top three, they may be even more insistent on trading up.

Thus, while the lack of talent at the top of the draft may mean that the Raiders third pick is not quite as valuable, the lack of talent deeper in the draft could still make their pick highly sought after. They just need a team to fall in love with a guy in the top 5 of the draft.