The Las Vegas Raiders have gone into the offseason with a big question at quarterback. The team has excellent offensive weapons with the likes of Davante Adams, Josh Jacobs and Jakobi Meyers, but without the right person under center, nothing else really matters.
The 2024 NFL Draft is loaded with potential answers at that position for the Raiders. Caleb Williams and Drake Maye are expected to be the top two picks, but Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels out of LSU is extremely impressive as well and seems to have a fan in Adams.
Adams recently spoke about this during an appearance on the Two G’s in a Pod, where he revealed that he believes Daniels is someone who could come into the NFL and have success, via Austin Boyd of Heavy.com:
“I think based off the situation last year,” Adams said during the January 18 episode of “Two G’s in a Pod, “I paid a little bit more attention to where Bryce [Young] and C.J. [Stroud] were playing. It was a little bit easier to pay attention to them. I’m not great with college football but I did pay a little attention to Jayden Daniels.”
“I know he’s good, tough, obviously he won a Heisman so he’s a great player. That’s somebody that I think could come in and be a decent player.”
Last season Daniels completed 72.2 percent of his passes for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns with just four interceptions. He also added another 1,134 yards rushing with 10 touchdowns on the ground. Needless to say, he is an extremely dynamic player, so it makes sense why he has caught the eye of Adams. He also has ties with Raiders coach Antonio Pierce as Daniels began his college career at Arizona State where Pierce was a member of the staff.
The Raiders do already have a young quarterback in the building in Aidan O’Connell, someone who Adams has spoken highly of in the past. And the Raiders star receiver clarified that he still believes O’Connell can be a good starter in the league eventually:
“I think he will be a good quarterback and somebody that can be a starter in this league at some point and just comfortable learning a little bit more and also, like I said, changing the system,” Adams said. “This system is for a veteran quarterback that knows what he’s seeing, knows how to convert at a high level, and if you haven’t had that experience, you can’t have confidence that you’re going to do that yet, so it just takes time.
“But I see him getting there eventually, though, for sure.”
If the Raiders see things the same way as Adams, then a move will probably have to be made. It is highly unlikely Daniels will drop all the way to 13th overall when the Raiders pick. But if the franchise feels he can be the guy to lead the team, that move is a necessary one.
Raiders remove interim tag, name Antonio Pierce permanent head coach
Some good news for the Raiders that will allow them to move forward in identifying the right path in the NFL Draft is that they have finally settled on a head coach and it is the man all the players in the building wanted in Antonio Pierce.
The Raiders have officially removed the interim tag and named Pierce the permanent head coach. The team is still working on naming a permanent general manager as well, but one big step to this offseason is already behind the franchise now.
