Getty Oklahoma Sooner QB Kyler Murray
The Oakland Raiders may want in on the most talked about prospect of the 2019 NFL Draft. Fortunately, if that’s the case, they have plenty of draft capital to be able to either select quarterback Kyler Murray early, move up, or trade back to land him, depending on his future stock. On the surface, it seems Murray will be a prospect at least one team could easily fall in love with and select early.
And that team very well may be the Jon Gruden-led Raiders, at least if the early rumblings are any indication. As Peter King reported in his latest Football Morning in America piece, Oakland is “fascinated” with the former Oklahoma Sooners quarterback. He even tossed out a few possible trade destinations for Derek Carr if the Raiders opt to make the move and draft Murray.
“I hear the Raiders are fascinated with Murray. If so, could Oakland flip Derek Carr to Jacksonville or Miami or Washington or the Giants and pick Murray—and how bizarre would it be to see Murray playing his home games on the field of the Oakland A’s for one season?”
It’s not all that surprising, as Gruden could very well choose to complete his massive rebuild of the Raiders by selecting the most intriguing prospect of this draft class. In turn, this would almost certainly mean the player dubbed as their franchise quarterback less than a season or so ago would play elsewhere in 2019.
When Raiders Could Draft Kyler Murray
The Raiders are going to be busy on the opening night of the NFL draft, as they hold the No. 4, 24 and 27 picks in round one, per Tankathon. This comes from trades which sent star pass-rusher Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears and top wide receiver Amari Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys. Obviously, Gruden and company could just select Murray at No. 4 if he’s there, which seems to be a real possibility.
It’s unlikely they’ll have to worry about the three teams ahead of them in the Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets. Both the 49ers and Jets are set at quarterback and unless the Cardinals opt to throw in the towel on Josh Rosen, then Murray going No. 1 overall is unlikely. With that said, we know new Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury has offered high praise for the Sooners quarterback previously, so maybe it’s not entirely off the table.
The biggest concern for the Raiders could be a team trading up ahead of them to select Murray, assuming one franchise just opts to go all-in on making sure they land him. Wild things are bound to happen in the draft, but one of the most head-turning could be the Raiders selecting a new signal-caller and then trading Carr around the same time.
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