Getty Las Vegas Raiders QB Aidan O'Connell.
Trading up into the top three is proving difficult for the Las Vegas Raiders so the team needs to consider other options if they want to add a quarterback in the draft. The team likely won’t have a chance to draft Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye but J.J. McCarthy could still be a possibility.
However, the Raiders would still need to trade up if they wanted the Michigan star. Bill Barnwell of ESPN pitched a trade that would send Aidan O’Connell, the No. 13 pick and the No. 44 pick to the New York Jets for the No. 10 and No. 111 picks. In this scenario, the Raiders would take McCarthy.
“At the cost of a second-round pick, would the Raiders be willing to jump ahead of the Vikings and Broncos to land McCarthy? Neither team has a second-rounder in this draft to match Vegas’ offer,” Barnwell wrote in an April 18 column. “The Vikings have another first-rounder (No. 23), but would they really send it to move up one spot? (The Jets don’t have a second-rounder to send back, either.)
“In this deal, New York GM Joe Douglas would get back a top-50 pick after sending a second-rounder to the Packers in the Rodgers trade last year. The Jets would also get a potential backup for Rodgers in O’Connell, who exceeded expectations in a hopeless situation a year ago. And frankly, while moving down three spots in Round 1, they still might be able to draft the same player they wanted at No. 10.”
Would This Trade Make Sense for Las Vegas Raiders?
The trade that Bill Barnwell is proposing would make a lot of sense for the Jets. They land a second-round pick, get a capable backup to Aaron Rodgers and only have to move back three spots.
For the Raiders, they’d be paying a steep price just to move up a few spots to take the fourth-best quarterback in the draft, if he’s even available. Losing Aidan O’Connell wouldn’t be a huge blow if the team added J.J. McCarthy but do the Raiders think he’s that much better than Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr.? It’s hard to know for sure but Las Vegas hasn’t shown much interest in McCarthy.
Las Vegas does need a quarterback but shouldn’t trade too many assets to get a quarterback they aren’t 100% sold on.
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Las Vegas Raiders Could Get Michael Penix in 2nd-Round
Another reason why the Raiders shouldn’t trade up for J.J. McCarthy is the possibility that they can still land a good quarterback in the second round. In a mock draft from Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus, he has Michael Penix Jr. slipping to the second round where the Raiders select him.
“Penix can attack the intermediate middle of the field, but it is not as natural,” Sikkema wrote in the April 20 mock draft. “He also tends to throw with power too much. He can be a tick late on timing his throws, opting to put more juice on passes rather than more air underneath. This lends itself to a lack of consistent ball placement.
“He also opts for the bigger throws and not as many ‘layups’ even when available.”