The NFL combine has come and gone and now the real fun is about to begin.
Free agency kicks off on March 13 and the buzz around the league won’t slow down until draft season comes to close in the last week of April.
As usual, the Raiders were one of the hot topics at this year’s combine, so let’s put in one place a few of the storylines and rumors that surfaced in Indianapolis over the last week…
The Raiders are looking for a trade partner to move up in the draft.
Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer said the Raiders are one of two teams that have been trying to figure out a way to get to the top of the draft…
“The Las Vegas Raiders and Giants are two teams I’ve heard have been asking around on a trade up for a quarterback. It makes sense for both to research the possibility.”
Considering the Giants own the sixth-overall pick, it’s probably a safe bet that they are targeting one of the ‘big 3’ quarterbacks in the draft: Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and/or Drake Maye.
The Raiders also have their sights on picks 5, 6 and 7 in the draft.
If they can’t trade for one of the top three picks in the draft, the Raiders might be willing to move up for a quarterback like J.J. McCarthy.
The Athletic‘s Vic Tafur reported on that dynamic on Monday…
“Telesco has also had conversations centered on potentially trading for picks in the 5 to 7 range, which are owned by the Los Angeles Chargers (pick No. 5), New York Giants (No. 6) and Tennessee Titans (No. 7). That type of trade could be made to put the Raiders in range for another trade up later or a player at another premium position, but it mostly makes sense if it’s a move up for a quarterback like Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy.”
Additionally, there has been some buzz that McCarthy is considering the no. 2 quarterback in the draft by a handful of teams. We won’t find out until the draft if those rumors are accurate.
The growing perception is that Jayden Daniels is the quarterback the Raiders want.
Vinny Bonsignore reported for the Las Vegas Review-Journal this week that Jayden Daniels is “gaining momentum as [the Raiders] favorite quarterback in this draft.”
Vinny’s sentiment was previously echoed by the Raiders flagship radio station on Friday.
“Everybody wants our quarterback. Jayden Daniels is our quarterback,” JT the Brick said on Friday’s JT The Brick Show. “You know it. I just said it. The coach is saying it. Everybody wants Jayden Daniels. He was in the locker room for the cigar party. He’s everywhere. I’m not tipping my hand.”
“Everybody knows that we want Jayden Daniels. Every GM. Every fan. Jayden Daniels knows. We’ve got to find a way to get him and it’s going to be expensive,” JT continued… “I want to test the temperature of Raider Nation. Raider fans, how do you feel that everybody knows we want Jayden Daniels?”
People around the league believe Antonio Pierce is on a relatively short leash with his job.
“The feeling around the NFL is [Antonio Pierce] isn’t going to get a long time to prove who he is,” Sports Illustrated‘s Hondo Carpenter last week on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
We know Raiders owner Mark Davis likes Pierce, but you can be sure that Pierce didn’t get a six-year, $60 million deal the way McDaniels did.
Davis had no choice but to hire Pierce, so it will be interesting to see how long the owner and his advisors ride with Pierce if expectations aren’t immediately met.
Just a guess.. the same would probably be true of GM Tom Telesco.
The cost to get Justin Fields could drop significantly in the days ahead.
The Bears would love to trade Fields sooner than later, but every indication is that they need to come down on their asking price.
The Steelers and Falcons were considering by some to be the favorites to trade for Fields, but now it sounds like Atlanta might be focusing their attention on Kirk Cousins.
Via ESPN’s Dan Graziano…
“I expect the Falcons to make a strong pursuit [of Kirk Cousins]. I have been told by multiple sources this week that signing Cousins — not trading for Justin Fields — is the Falcons’ top QB solution, assuming Cousins makes it to free agency.”
If Fields doesn’t end up in Pittsburgh or Atlanta, the Raiders might be the next most logical landing spot for him… especially if the cost would only be a third-round pick.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Clearly AP is in love with JD for qb. Clearly I am in love with JJ having watched him play at Mich for 2 years. Jim Harbaugh has stated that JJ is the best qb at Mich in history. I think that JJ showed his stuff recently and tapes are available. JJ had something like 3 or 4 interceptions and he can run like a deer. 2 or 3 of those happened when JH was not coaching. Talk to JH to see if those interceptions would have happened if he was coaching. JH kept a short lease on him EVEN THOUGH JH THINKS HE IS THE BEST THAT MICH HAS EVER HAD. BOTTOM LINE: GET JH’S OPINION ON JJ VS JD.
The brick doesn’t speak for me. If we were sitting at two, then yeah, take the chance. But I don’t see him as a for sure hit in the nfl and definitely not wanting us to give up a load of top picks for the guy. None of these guys are for sure hits. Let’s get some beef up front and let O’Connell have time to hit his marks. Because we know he can without having to break the pocket to make plays.
I don’t know why everyone is over hyping jj McCarthy. the dude are. is weak and he can’t throw deep down the field. and for some odd reason these so called experts keep trying to push him to the Raiders. It’s a Big No on the dude. He’s no more than a Mitch Trubisky 2.0 Straight Bust. Place him with a other team besides the Raiders, it’s 31 other team out there he can bust with.
I hope like h=ll we can get JJ McCarthy. I believe he’s going to be a great NFL QB. If you watch his tape .. dude can make any throw and he’s accurate. So we definitely see him differently.
Exactly!!! Jj is yeah, they keep trying to push him on the raiders because they want us to suck. They hate us and want us to pick a sh**ty QB. Hell no I don’t want this fool
I wouldn’t mind moving up around that four or five spots and take JJ McCarthy. That’s only if it’s no chance at all for us to get Jayden Daniels. I just feel like this should be the draft we study every QB in this draft from top to bottom and then come to some kind of a plan or plans on what direction we should go to get a QB to lead the franchise for the next 10 to 15 yrs. This draft is deep at QB and I just feel like it’s going to be QBs that get drafted later in the draft but could be the next Brock Purdy. I just really hope we can hit on whatever QB we draft no matter if he’s a first rounder or drafted in the middle to late rounds. No if ands or buts we have to find our franchise QB if we even want to have a chance to compete with the teams in our division and then the Bill’s, Bengals, Dolphins, Ravens etc. Hell the AFC if you really look at it is stacked with playoff potential teams. Colts, Browns, Texans, Jaguars, Steelers. Then the other teams aren’t push overs and could easily be a playoff team Jets, Chargers, Broncos, Titans,. So the Raiders need to get their **** together and soon
Raiders will trade with Washington and they will select jaydon Daniels. It will be expensive but it will pay off in the long run. Tired of band aid patch qb’s looking for their last big contracts like garrapolo, hoyer, broken down cousins. Get a qb you want and roll with it.
I AGREE WITH KENNY….GET SOME BEEF AND WORK ON O’CONNELS DELIVERY MOTION.
THAT CAN BE TAUGHT….HE JUST NEEDS MORE PLAYING TIME AND TEAM BACKING.