Getty Antonio Pierce & Tom Telesco of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Las Vegas Raiders surprisingly came out of the 2024 NFL Draft without adding a single quarterback. The team was heavily linked to a number of prospects and all six of the quarterbacks expected to be taken in the first round were selected before the Raiders picked at 13.
While the team was linked to several quarterback prospects, their interest in them may have been overstated. According to Jeremy Fowler, the Raiders only really considered trading up for LSU’s Jayden Daniels.
“According to multiple sources, the Raiders had explored a potential move into the top three for a quarterback,” Fowler wrote in an April 29 column. “LSU’s Daniels, who played at Arizona State when Pierce was on the staff there, was the most viable candidate for the Raiders in any such scenario, sources said. During the pre-draft process, Daniels had shown interest in playing for his former coach in Las Vegas, sources said.”
In fact, many of the rumors linking the Raiders to quarterbacks were untrue, per a team source.
“Everything else was smoke and mirrors,” the Raiders source told Fowler. “We weren’t going to reach or overpay for a QB. Never was a worry and nothing frantic.”
This likely most applies to Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. There were rumors the Raiders would have taken him at No. 13 but it appears that wasn’t going to happen had the quarterback fallen.
Las Vegas Raiders Were Surprised by Run of Offensive Players
The NFL is starting to favor the offensive side of the ball and that was clear based on how the draft unfolded. The first 14 players that were selected played on the offensive side of the ball. That was something that caught the Raiders off guard.
“I was surprised by the [offensive] run and how it happened, to be honest,” a Raiders team source told Fowler.
The Raiders could’ve had their pick of the best defensive player in the draft but decided to stick with offense and selected tight Brock Bowers. While the Raiders didn’t come away with a top quarterback, they have set up their current quarterbacks for success.
Las Vegas Raiders Didn’t Consider QB After Day 1
As the draft went on, the Raiders continued passing up opportunities to draft a quarterback. They didn’t even use a Day 3 pick to address the position. That mostly had to do with Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell.
General manager Tom Telesco didn’t believe the Raiders would find an upgrade over those two after Day 1 of the draft.
“On the third day? No. Really not the second day either. First day, yes. But not after that,” Telesco said in his April 27 press conference. “If we felt there was a quarterback out there that was better than we had, or could potentially be better, certainly we would have done something [about] it. But it didn’t line up.”
O’Connell was a fourth-round pick just a year ago so it makes sense why the Raiders decided against adding another young quarterback on Day 3. However, that doesn’t solve the long-term issue the team has at the position. At some point, Las Vegas will need to be aggressive in addressing the quarterback position.
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