The Raiders walked away from the 2024 draft with one of the steals of the draft, but a year after drafting All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers with the 13th pick, it sounds like Tom Brady and company made a push to trade for one of the quarterbacks drafted ahead of Bowers in 2024.
The report surfaced last week after the Vikings fired GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who had apparently been at odds with head coach Kevin O’Connell in recent years.
According to former Pro Football Focus analyst Daniel Rotman, O’Connell didn’t want to let Sam Darnold leave in free agency and also didn’t want to draft McCarthy.
Additionally, Rotman said the Vikings were “moments away” from trading McCarthy to Las Vegas a year ago.
Looking back, the Raiders presumably don’t regret missing on McCarthy, but it would be interesting to know what they offered the Vikings for him.
If the proposed trade had involved this year’s first-round pick, the Vikings would be sitting on one of the most valuable first-round picks in recent memory.
Had the Raiders traded for McCarthy, Geno Smith would probably still be in Seattle and in that scenario it’s hard to imagine the Seahawks would be playing in the Super Bowl in a week.
And on a final note… if McCarthy and Matthew Stafford were both pursued by the Raiders before trading for Smith, it would mean Smith was at least their third option at addressing the quarterback position. It was a mistake to trade for Smith, but if the decision ended up paving the way for Fernando Mendoza to Las Vegas, all will be well that ends well.
x: @raidersbeat
Just looking at some parallels for the Raiders from the 1982 draft and the upcoming draft.
In 82, the Raiders already had their starting QB in place but we’re missing the aspect of a truly effective running game. They then drafted Marcus Allen, the Heisman winner that season.
This year, the Raiders drafted the best running back in the draft but were missing the QB aspect. And now they get the opportunity to draft Mendoza, the Heisman winner of this past season.
Could we be witnessing history repeating itself? The rise of the Raiders through nearly the exact same circumstances as in 82?
Fingers crossed with a prayer to the Lord.
Well, I recall a few people on this board favoring that we trade for McCarthy. I wasn’t too high on him due to the fact that he came from a run dominant offense and wasn’t asked to pass very much at Michigan. That said, he still has an opportunity to hone his skills and possibly live up to his hype.