Raiders Outlook: Not coming away with a quarterback in the draft will be disconcerting

And it doesn’t have to be an early-round prospect, either

Not coming away with a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft would be disconcerting for the Las Vegas Raiders.

Now, before your feathers get ruffled, here’s the key caveat: This isn’t relegated to merely the first or early rounds, either. This line of thought applies to the entire draft landscape, from rounds one to seven.

Las Vegas is going to have a remade quarterback room and adding a prospect to the group from the 2024 draft class helps bolster not only the depth at the position group, but adds another competitor.

Competition keeps the signal callers on their toes creating an environment where they all push each other to get better, lest they lose their status as a starter or spot along the depth chart.

It’s earned roles — something the Raiders want to do this offseason. And a team can’t have that kind of competitive nature without having the numbers at the position group.

Draft Capital

Currently, the Silver & Black have eight total picks to use later this month:

• Round 1: No. 13
• Round 2: No. 44
• Round 3: No. 77
• Round 4: No. 112
• Round 5: No. 148
• Round 6: No. 208 (via Kansas City)
• Round 7: No. 223 (via New England); No. 229 (via Minnesota)

That’s plenty of opportunities to snare a quarterback prospect for Las Vegas to develop and insert into the competition for the starting role. Of course, an early-round prospect tends to indicate a more ready profile to jump into the pros when compared to mid- and late-round types. However, don’t discount that type of draft pick altogether.

After all, the current favorites who’ll battle for the QB1 spot are of the mid- to late-round prospects in incumbent Aidan O’Connell (fourth round, 135th overall, 2023 draft) and Gardner Minshew (sixth round, 178th overall, 2019 draft). Anthony Brown Jr. is the third quarterback on the depth chart and is an undrafted free agent (2022) out of the University of Oregon.

Earn It

Antonio Pierce stresses competition to get the best starter and where that’ll happen the most is at quarterback. The Raiders head coach openly said O’Connell has earned the opportunity to compete for the role with Minshew. And Brown has his chance to get into the mix, too. Pierce even boisterously said “You don’t put a Band-Aid at that position” and seeks a face of the franchise to be quarterback, someone you can count on for the next 10 years.

Whether that bold statement is hyperbole or reality will be up to Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco, who has final say on the roster.

Fortunately for the GM, he isn’t handicapped by a big contract at the quarterback position — after releasing veteran Jimmy Garoppolo (who has since signed with the Los Angeles Rams) — and has O’Connell on a cheap fourth-round contract and Minshew on a manageable two-year, $25-million contract.

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Window Shopping?

The Raiders’ intertest in the quarterback class in the upcoming draft isn’t a secret. Team personnel can be seen at school’s pro days — from head coach, general manager, and scouts — and Pierce and Telesco have fielded the quarterback questions in their respective media engagements.

Yet, the team sits outside of the top 10 at pick No. 13 and if a top flight prospect is being targeted by the Raiders, they must hope someone falls to them or they’ll need to part with draft picks (current and future) to move up to get into position to pick a quarterback like LSU’s Jayden Daniels, North Carolina’s Drake Maye, or Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy — all projected to be gone in the top 10 along with USC’s Caleb Williams.

Thus, if Las Vegas remains at No. 13, a signal caller prospect like Washington’s Michael Penix or Oregon’s Bo Nix, might be available. I stress “might” here because as with many a draft, predicting how things will go when team’s are on the clock is an exercise in futility at times. A prospect can fall or rise and “surprise” picks litter the first round — like the Raiders taking a run-stopping edge rusher No. 4 overall in Clelin Ferrell (amongst other picks that worked, i.e. Nnamdi Asomugha No. 31 in 2003).

It’s probable that Penix or Nix may be available in the second round, too. Beyond that, Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler and Tulane’s Michael Pratt are oft-mentioned behind Penix and Nix in several rankings as mid-round options. Florida State’s Jordan Travis, Tennessee’s Joe Milton III, Western Kentucky’s Austin Reed, to just name a few, are late-round/Day 3 developmental types.

Again, don’t immediately dismiss a mid- to late-round draft pick from jumping into the fray for the QB1 role. While the odds aren’t in their favor due to draft status, the top two fighting for the gig are of similar draft ilk.

Raiders History

Going back 30 years, drafting a quarterback hasn’t really been a “Raider” thing. Since 1994, these are the signal callers the Silver & Black have chosen from the draft pool:

• 2001: Marques Tuiasosopo, second round, 59th overall
• 2005: Andrew Walter, third round, 69th overall
• 2007: Jamarcus Russell, first round, 1st overall
• 2013: Tyler Wilson, fourth round, 112th overall
• 2014: Derek Carr, second round, 36th overall
• 2016: Connor Cook, fourth round, 100th overall
• 2023: O’Connell, fourth round, 135th overall

Photo by Focus On Sport/Getty Images

Seven may sound like a decent number but when you compare that to the 240 overall selections the Raiders made from the 1994 draft to the 2023 rendition, it’s a paltry sum.

The team has chosen 39 quarterbacks in its entire draft history with Rounds 1, 2, and 4 the heaviest concentration in terms of the position with four signal callers taken in those three rounds. Roman Gabriel (1977, 1st overall), Marc Wilson (1990, 15th overall), Todd Marinovich (1992, 24th overall), along with Russell represent the first rounders. Jeff Blount (1977, 50th overall), Ken Stabler (1968, 52nd overall), Carr and Tuiasosopo are the second rounders. While Steve Beuerlein (1987, 110th overall), Cook, Wilson, and O’Connell represent the fourth rounders.

Only one of that entire group of 39 is in the Hall of Fame: Stabler.