Who is going to be the more aggressive team in their search for a quarterback… the Raiders or the Broncos?
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, it’s more likely to be the Raiders.
“It feels like the Raiders with Antonio Pierce, the urgency is there from the head coach,” Rapoport said this week. “Getting a quarterback makes sense because whatever happens this year if you get a guy, you can at least say you got a guy got the next 10 years. I don’t know where it’s going to be and, to me, it’s going to be pretty hard to trade up, but I think they’ll give it a shot.”
Pierce has talked about not wanting to put a “Band-Aid” on the quarterback situation, but the Raiders also can’t afford to reach on a player with the 13th pick.
ESPN’s Matt Miller thinks the Raiders are more likely to lurk in the first two rounds of the draft and hope a quarterback they like will fall to them.
“Right now the Raiders’ depth chart consists of Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell,” Miller wrote this week in an ESPN insider piece. “Minshew is a solid veteran and bridge option, and he should be the starter in 2024 after leading the Colts to a 7-6 record while replacing an injured Anthony Richardson. But if a quarterback slides to the Raiders at No. 13 or No. 44 overall, general manager Tom Telesco has to consider adding a future starter.”
The risk to waiting on a quarterback is that the rest of the league can dictate which quarterbacks are available. If teams feel like the Raiders want a quarterback, they will be more likely to trade ahead of the Raiders to get a quarterback.
Back in 2017, it was the Saints who tried to wait on Patrick Mahomes, but missed on the three-time Super Bowl MVP when the Chiefs traded ahead of them to take Mahomes.
If the Raiders don’t make an aggressive move for a quarterback, their likely options in the draft will be Michael Penix, Bo Nix and/or Spencer Rattler?
Would anyone on that list be worth a first-round pick… and will any of them be on the board when the Raiders pick in the second round?
twitter: @raidersbeat
