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Thanks to his flop in the college football playoff against LSU, Jalen Hurts went from Heisman candidate to middling quarterback prospect. That one game did a lot of damage to his draft stock, but he’s climbing back up. He put on a show at the NFL Combine and could be making his way up draft boards.
The Las Vegas Raiders are a definite team to keep an eye on in regards to Hurts as they reportedly have been very impressed with him. According to Hurts, he had a unique connection to the team when he met with them.
“Coach (Jon) Gruden has that jolt,” Hurts said, per Vic Tafur of The Athletic. “There was definitely a connection with Coach Gruden and Mr. (Mike) Mayock, considering they’re also coaches’ kids. And how they view leadership and how high they are on it. There was a natural connection between us.”
One thing was clear during the first Mayock and Gruden draft is that they want to take players who love football. There’s no doubt that Hurts proved that to them when they met.
Hurts Could Be Moving up Into the Second Round
There’s perhaps no player who helped their draft status more than Hurts at the Combine. He not only impressed with his elite athletism, but he also showed off his football IQ. It was generally thought that he’d go in either the third or fourth round. It now seems like there’s no way he gets out of the third and could even possibly go in the second.
According to NFL insider Benjamin Allbright, rumors are swirling that the Los Angeles Chargers like Hurts.
They currently don’t have a starting quarterback heading into 2020. If they miss out on Tom Brady and don’t get one of the better free-agent quarterbacks, it’s hard to imagine they don’t take one in the first round. However, if they decide to wait and they like Hurts, it’s very possible they take him in the second round. It just takes one team to fall in love with the Oklahoma alum and they’ll do what they can to make sure another team doesn’t take him.
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Hurts Is the Perfect Player for Raiders to Land in Third Round
If the Hurts hype cools down and he falls to the third round, the Raiders should pounce on him. He’s the perfect prospect for the team to go after no matter what they do in free agency. If they sign Tom Brady, they’ll at least be committing to him for two years. It might not be the best idea to sign Brady and then draft a quarterback in the first round and deprive the quarterback of one of the top wide receiver prospects.
If the team keeps Derek Carr and drafts a quarterback in the first round, that’s not going to sit well with him at all. However, if they take Hurts in the third, not only would they be able to address other needs early, it probably wouldn’t upset Carr too much. It really is a win-win because if they stick with Carr and he struggles, then they could have their quarterback of the future waiting in the wings and didn’t have to invest too much into him.
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