The draft is still six months away but based on how the Raiders’ season is playing out, they are going to be strong candidates to draft one of this year’s top quarterbacks.
Additionally, they seem to be on pace to have a high enough pick to get one of the top quarterbacks.
Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is projected by many to be a top-5 pick in this year’s draft, and according to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, the Raiders are particularly interested in him.
File away Hondo’s comments this week in the ‘do with them what you want’ category, but it sounds like there’s a little buzz right now among Raider scouts and Mendoza.
“[I am] hearing some interesting stuff about Raider scouts and Mendoza at Indiana. Just keep an eye out there on that,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“I’m not saying he’s going to be the pick. I’m just saying that I’m hearing some that there’s that I’m hearing from people, other teams, I’m hearing from people around Indiana and some other things that the Raiders seem to have keen interest in Mendoza, which they should. They need a quarterback, and they’re trying to find out, is he our ride or die? It doesn’t mean that he is.”
As everyone knows, the decision on the next Raiders’ quarterback is going to have a lot to do with who Tom Brady wants and the opinion of scouts is only worth so much with the current leadership structure in Las Vegas.
Brady and his personnel department will do their due diligence on each of this year’s draft-eligible quarterbacks, and there will plenty of smoke around who they like leading up to the draft.
GM John Spytek did a masterful job of hiding the team’s interests ahead of the 2025 draft and he’ll be tough to read again this year.
But just as important as hiding their draft evaluations, the Raiders desperately need to find the right quarterback in this year’s draft. If they want to compete in the AFC West, they have to find a quarterback who can eventually compete with Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and Bo Nix.
As of this week, the Heisman Trophy favorites at Caesars Sportsbook are Mendoza (+310), Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson (+325), Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (+350), and Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed (+575).
Based on mock drafts in recent weeks, Simpson, Mendoza and Oregon’s Dante Moore are all projected to be top-5 picks.
If the season ended today, the Raiders would be working with the no. 8 pick (graphic courtesy Tankathon) and that might require a little trade jockeying if they want to land one of the top quarterbacks in this year’s draft.
x: @raidersbeat
Really insightful stuff(again) Hondo. He hears the Raiders are interested in a quarterback currently projected to be the #1 overall pick, but he’s not gonna say for sure that they will draft him. He must have loads on connections
GM John Syptek is going to have to hit on a QB if he hopes to be with us for a third year and beyond. At this point this is the only thing that will save his job under the least successful owner in all of Major League sports, Mark (dumb & dumber) Davis. Pete Carroll is already done, it and his staff of relatives and cronies is not working.
RIP George Atkinson, I had the privilege to meet him as a child and as a man. I spoke with him many times on air into over time when he did Raiders radio. Atkinson played in eight AFC championship games for the Raiders from 1968 to 1978. The “ Soul Patrol” was the Raiders secondary of; Atkinson, Jack Tatum, Skip Thomas and Willie Brown. Teams feared throwing the ball across the middle as Receivers heard foot steps in those days. Why? Because Of Atkinson and Tatum made you pay a price. Atkinson was a key figure in the SB XI season where we finally won it all. (John Madden was a very conservative football Coach, we should have had more rings.) But Al Davis had loyalty, something Mark Davis knows nothing about.
Atkinson was all about Raiders legacy and history which Mark Davis has failed to maintain by reason of defeat. Boycott Mark Davis, he has failed us, our legacy and all of our greats too!
WEST SIDE
RN
SINCE 1975
The 70s, like the 80s NBA, was the golden era for the NFL. They let you play football back then.
All those players were fiercely loyal to Al. In fact, i think everyone of Al’s Paul bearers were from those 70s teams