The Raiders are looking to come away with a quarterback from this year’s draft and they were studying their options closely last week at the NFL Combine.
Despite the fact that he didn’t work out at the Combine, Shedeur Sanders managed to dominate headlines in Indianapolis and most of the stories around him haven’t been particularly positive in the days since.
There were reports that Sanders came across arrogant and uninterested in interviews with teams and at least one mock draft in the wake of the Combine has projected him to fall to the bottom of the first round.
No one has reported on what the Raiders thought of Shedeur in his interview with the team, but a report from The Athletic’s Vic Tafur pointed to two quarterbacks that stood out in interviews with the Raiders. One of those quarterbacks was Jalen Milroe and Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter passed along a story on Milroe that reflected well on the former Alabama quarterback.
“There were a lot of people that were pleasantly surprised at him. Very pleasantly surprised by him,” Carpenter said of Milroe on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast. “His answers were tremendous. His knowledge was extremely impressive. I want to be careful how I word this next one. I think the change in coaching maybe hurt him a little bit with Alabama. I’ll just leave it there.”
“One of the teams asked Jalen Milroe a series of questions about what he was really good at,” Hondo continued. “And then they said they asked him what he could get better at, and his answer was, ‘How much time do you have?’ And the guy goes, we’re sitting there interviewing Jalen Milroe, and he’s telling us all the areas that he’s working on right now.”
“To which this team said to him, ‘Are you not concerned pointing out those things to us would concern us?’ He basically said to them, I wasn’t in the room, but basically said, ‘You should be concerned with any guy that comes in this room, who hasn’t played a down of NFL football and doesn’t tell you that he has weaknesses or that he isn’t working on them. Plus, it’s an insult because that means he doesn’t think you know how to watch film.’”
It’s hard to know which stories to trust this time of year, and it will be interesting to see where Milroe is ultimately taken in the draft.
Sanders is widely considered a better prospect than Milroe, but it’s been hard to tell by the tone of the last two weeks.
Sanders has the element of Deion Sanders and potentially his own persona working against him going into the draft, whereas Milroe seems to have everything working in his favor but the film. Milroe is the best athlete at quarterback in this year’s draft and he appears to have impressed everyone he came in contact with in Indianapolis.
Nevertheless, Milroe had a disappointing 2024 season from a production standpoint and teams will be anxious to figure out why he didn’t play better once former Alabama head coach Nick Saban retired.
As of now, Milroe looks like a strong candidate to be drafted in the second round, and he would be a solid developmental quarterback for a team that’s willing to give him time to grow. Tom Brady has been clear that he doesn’t want to force a rookie quarterback onto the field too early, so the Raiders might not be a bad situation for Milroe.
If the Raiders are able to get Milroe in the second or third round of this year’s draft, who wouldn’t feel good about that?
x: @raidersbeat
It’s an excellent answer. I’m kind of agnostic on Milroe, and have the same concerns about all QBs with middling college stats. Josh Allen is an outlier. But I’m intrigued by Milroe, too. The concern I have is whether the Raiders have the roster and coaching infrastructure to maximize his abilities
Hmmm, a smart young man with dual threat abilities. Can’t teach speed baby! Jalen Miroe this is coach Pete Carroll, how would you like to be a Raider? Welcome home son, you are now a Raider in round 2.😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮
Yo man, I just heard a rumor the Raiders are interested in signing Josh Sweat.
HELL NO!!
Stay away from this cat, man. He had a great Suoer Bowl, yes, but he’s way too inconsistent. Some games you don’t even know he’s playing.
If the Raiders are interested in signing any of the Eagles free agents it should be in this order…
1. Zach Baun
2. Mekhi Becton
3. Milton Williams
That’s it. Believe me I watch the Eagles play every week.