The Oakland Raiders have been interested in New York Jets defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson for a while now. After trying to trade for him last year, they had plans of using the room they had under the salary cap this offseason to try to get him. That is until the Jets franchise tagged him, not wanting to see him leave without something in return.

I’ve kept my eye on this situation for a while now and things are starting to get interesting. According to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, Wilkerson and his agent are in “full-fledged get-me-the-heck-out-of-here mode.” The reason behind this is that they recognize that the Jets will never pay Wilkerson what he is worth.

So far, a trade hasn’t happened because the Jets want a 1st-round pick for Wilkerson. But at some point, the Jets have to come off that, unable to afford to franchise tag him again for next year. If they want to get anything out of him at all, they team needs to make some sort of deal this year.

Wilkerson has some control over where he goes since he would have to sign long term with the team that trades for him. And Jason La Canfora has been on CBS saying Wilkerson is intrigued by the Raiders. So we are left to wonder what it would take to pry Wilkerson away from the Jets this year.

The Jets are badly in need of a tight end and both tackle positions at this time. The Raiders have tight end Mychal Rivera and right tackle Austin Howard, who has played for the Jets before. Menelik Watson will supposedly get the first shot at the starting right tackle position for the Raiders and Rivera is already on the trade block.

They have two 5th-round picks too.

The longer this goes, the less the Jets will get.

Can a deal be made here at some point?