Schefter: Raiders Never Called Commanders About Jayden Daniels Ahead of 2024 Draft

The Raiders are entering their third consecutive offseason looking for a quarterback and there are still details around their efforts to find a quarterback last year making headlines today.

It was no secret a year ago the Raiders wanted to find a way to get to LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels in the draft, but according to ESPN’s Adams Schefter, the Raiders never made a strong push to get the Heisman-winning quarterback.

“Jayden Daniels is one of these generational quarterbacks. You’re not finding that guy in the draft this year, and you don’t even have the draft pick to do it,” Schefter said about the Raiders on the Adam Schefter Podcast.

“By the way, that’s why last year, it’s why the Raiders had such an interest in trying to see if they could trade for Jayden Daniels,” Schefter continued. “But by the way, matter of fact, they never made the call at all. They never even tried to get that trade done. A lot of speculation about it. More in the media than within the teams themselves. The Raiders never called about Jayden Daniels.”

It was a strange report from Schefter because he acknowledged the Raiders had “such an interest” in trading for Daniels but followed up with the notion they didn’t make an effort to see if it could happen.

Schefter is one of the most respected insiders in the industry, so it’s hard to imagine he didn’t get good information. But there has to be more to the story.

If nothing else, it would be interesting to hear from someone on the Raiders’ side of the situation and get more details on the way the draft played out the way it did from their perspective.

In the last nine months, there have been several reports hinting the Raiders were willing to give up multiple first-round picks for Daniels. Yahoo and FOX Sports host Jason Fitz was one of a half dozen or so who spoke on the Raiders interest in Daniels, and he said a few months ago the Raiders were believed to have offered as many as three first-round picks for Daniels.

“Word on the street, and none of us will ever know, but word on the street was that last year the Raiders were one of a couple of teams that offered as many as three first-rounders to move up for Jayden Daniels, and they were told ‘No,’” Fitz said in October on Raider Nation Radio’s The Morning Tailgate.

For what it’s worth, this is the second story this week that seems to have slipped out of the Washington building that doesn’t flatter the Raiders or the presumed top candidate for their head coaching job.

A report on Tuesday claimed Ben Johnson wanted nothing to do with Daniels prior to the 2024 draft and that was the reason the Commanders turned their plane around and chose not to consider him for their head-coaching job.

“I don’t know if it’s been talked about publicly but the story that I got with what happened was they were en route. Adam Peters and them were en route to Detroit for the interview in conversation with Ben Johnson. It was brought up that Ben Johnson still wanted Sam Howell. That’s who he wanted to be his quarterback for his offense. And you know, there’s Carolina connections, all that stuff,” Washington insider Lake Lewis Jr. said on the Rambling with Rio Johnson podcast.

“And Adam Peters was like, ‘No,’ because they know who they’re going to draft, and we all knew who they were going to draft, and he didn’t want [Daniels]… So what I’m saying is kudos to Adam Peters for holding his guns and saying, ‘No, we know who we’re drafting, and that’s who you’re going to have to build with.’ And that’s the story that I got. It was Adam Peters just said turn that plane around.”

Going back a few more years, it is widely believed that the leaked emails from Jon Gruden came from the Commanders building.

Safe to say, there’s a little trend forming in the nation’s capital as it involves the Raiders.

Maybe a little retribution toward the organization for the events of January 22, 1984?

x: @raidersbeat