The Las Vegas Raiders announced that they have signed quarterback Nathan Peterman to a one-year contract. While not confirmed by the team, it has been reported that the deal is for $2.775 million.
Peterman originally was a fifth-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2017 out of Pittsburgh. When Raiders head coach Jon Gruden was an analyst, he was high on him coming out of college and then brought him to the Raiders as a member of the practice squad at the end of the 2018 season.
Peterman spent most of the 2019 season on injured reserve, and then the Raiders brought him back in 2020 to provide some quarterback depth. With Marcus Mariota missing some time due to injury, Peterman served as Derek Carr’s backup in a handful of games this past season.
He even got into one game in Week 12, going 3-for-5 with 25 passing yards and nine rushing yards in the fourth quarter of a blowout loss to the Atlanta Falcons. That is his only regular-season action with the Raiders to date.
As it currently stands, Carr and Mariota are both under contract for the 2021 season, although the Raiders could part ways with the latter to save some cap space if they are confident in Peterman to be a full-time backup.
There is expected to be a historic amount of quarterback movement this offseason, and recent reports indicate that the Raiders could get into it as teams have expressed interest in acquiring Carr. That would give Las Vegas some extra draft capital to acquire a superstar quarterback, with Deshaun Watson being the best that may be available.
While that seems unlikely, bringing back Peterman gives the Raiders a quarterback who is familiar with Gruden’s system and can serve as valuable depth at the most important position in the sport.
