Getty BC Lions QB Nathan Rourke.
The Las Vegas Raiders are fortunate this season as they haven’t had to put their quarterback depth to the test. Derek Carr has gotten a bit banged up this season but has only missed two snaps due to injury. The Raiders offensive line has had its share of struggles this season but there have been 19 quarterbacks who have been sacked more than him.
That’s not stopping the team from evaluating their quarterback depth. Jarrett Stidham is the only other quarterback on the roster besides Carr with Chase Garbers on the practice squad. The Raiders may want to get some fresh talent in the house. According to the wire, Las Vegas tried out former Ohio quarterback Nathan Rourke.
Rourke is currently in the Canadian Football League as a member of the BC Lions. The Victoria, British Columbia native has done really well in his home league and was awarded the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian award this year. It’s an award given to the best player in the CFL. Rourke went undrafted after college so he has never had a chance at the NFL. He clearly has some talent but his game may not translate to the NFL. The Raiders are interested in seeing if that is the case. He’s only 24 so there’s a chance to work with him and develop him into an NFL player.
Profile on Rourke
Rourke was highly prolific in college at Ohio. He threw for 60 touchdowns while running for another 49 in three seasons. He’s a quarterback who can make plays with his feet and his arm. However, he’s not the most athletic player and doesn’t have the biggest arm. That’s likely what has kept him out of the NFL.
Prior to the 2021 NFL Draft, Lance Zierlein of NFL.com wrote up a profile on the quarterback:
Stocky quarterback whose dual-threat production may have been more a function of his scheme than his athletic/play traits. Rourke stacked touchdowns on top of touchdowns as he shouldered a heavy offensive burden for three years at Ohio. He’s best as a zone-read, RPO-based prospect with some off-schedule ability, but lacks NFL pocket-passing talent. While he was able to make slick open-field cuts to add yards as a runner, he’s not sudden enough for that production to translate and he’s not athletic enough to switch positions.
Rourke could be an interesting player for the Raiders to use in creative ways but he doesn’t seem to have the traits a team would want from a starting or primary backup quarterback.
Carr Urges Teammates to Keep Improving
Carr has the Raiders headed in the right direction right now. The team has won back-to-back games and could make things interesting if they beat the Chargers on Sunday. It’s been a tough season for the team thus far and Carr just wants his teammates to continue to improve.
“I think for us, the main word is improve, even if we do win games,” Carr said Wednesday. “Like I’ve been saying all year, I felt like we had a good football team, we just don’t have a good record. We felt like we were doing good things. We felt like we were competing against some of the best teams in the NFL and all that kind of stuff. So, for us, it’s just constant, never-ending self-improvement. You look in the mirror every day and I’ll go watch our film and say: ‘OK, what did I do wrong here.’ And if everyone’s doing that, then our team will do better down the road.
“And we can have plays like Josh’s [Jacobs] long run where everyone hits their block exactly right and the checks and the blocks and the fits and the helmet is on the right side. So many little things in football, but when everyone is trying to improve and do it the right way, things like that can happen. So hopefully for us we continue to do that. But just because we won last week or the week before, it doesn’t guarantee anything going forward, and we know that.”