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Though free agency is still weeks away, the Las Vegas Raiders are in the midst of a search for the next quarterback. Derek Carr has manned the ship for nine years but will be playing elsewhere in 2023. There have been rumors aplenty regarding what the team might do at the position but there are still a lot of factors to weigh.
General manager Dave Ziegler has said that he wants to be something consistent. Signing Tom Brady if he hadn’t retired or trading for Aaron Rodgers isn’t exactly putting together a long-term plan. Armed with the No. 7 overall pick in the upcoming draft, the Raiders will have options at quarterback. Until Rodgers reveals his plans for next season, the team can’t move forward with him. Jimmy Garoppolo has been a popular name linked to Las Vegas but some recent comments from Ziegler suggest that the team might not know what they want to do yet.
“We’re in charge of filling the most important position on the team,” Ziegler said on a February 21 episode of “Bussin’ With The Boys.” “There’s some pressure that comes along with that. And however we fill it, it doesn’t mean we’re going to have an immediate answer this year. But, at the end of the day, we have to have an answer in some form or fashion. There’s pressure that comes along with it. That’s also part of the excitement too.”
What Does Ziegler Means by These Comments?
The comment that has caught the most attention from the media and fans is Ziegler saying that the Raiders might not have their long-term answer at quarterback this year. That would suggest that the team doesn’t have much of a plan for this season. However, Ziegler isn’t going to tip his hand.
The Raiders have the No. 7 pick in the draft and there are at least two teams that certainly need a quarterback. If other teams know that Las Vegas is looking to draft a quarterback, they will try to trade ahead of them. For now, the Raiders need to make it seem like they’re not overly eager to add a quarterback just to add a quarterback. The team has a plan or at least an outline of what they’d like to do. There’s no reason for Ziegler to give any hints of what that plan might be.
Ziegler Says Raiders Weren’t Good Enough Last Season
Ziegler’s first season in Las Vegas was a big disappointment. He took over a playoff team and they fell to 6-11. He knows the Raiders weren’t playing at a high-level last season and had a chance to discuss what he wants to see from the team going forward.
“At the end of the day, we weren’t good enough. That’s the fact of the matter to win those games. And so, I think, when you look at them, a lot of games in football and a lot of our games this year had three or four plays that didn’t go our way. And so you start to dig in: ‘Why?’ Like, you have to start asking the question: ‘Why? Why didn’t they go that way?’,” Ziegler said.
“I’ll say it like this: I think the thing that’s important to win those close games is that you have to have a group of 11 guys that, in those critical moments, can all execute their assignments and be synchronized with each other. And I think at times, we just weren’t able to do that. For whatever the reason is. And there could be a lot of reasons to that.”
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