With free agency mostly in the rearview and the 2020 NFL Draft just around the corner, these are some exciting times for the Las Vegas Raiders.
In addition to spending around $57 million in cap space to add talent to the organization, the Raiders also have two first-round picks – Nos. 12 and 19 overall – and three third rounders at their disposal in the upcoming draft.
While the Raiders still have obvious needs to address such as wide receiver, cornerback and perhaps linebacker, there also has been a ton of buzz surrounding the quarterback position.
The Raiders have Derek Carr and Marcus Mariota on their roster, so they are set at quarterback if they want. But they also may want to add a young signal-caller to the mix through the draft to begin planning for the future.
The top three quarterbacks in the 2020 draft – Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert – all likely will be gone before the Raiders pick at 12. That leaves Utah State’s Jordan Love and Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts as perhaps the next best options.
In his recent mailbag, Vic Tafur of The Athletic gave some insight on how Raiders general manager Mike Mayock feels about those two quarterbacks:
I think Mike Mayock may have been telling the truth after all when he talked about Love at the combine and didn’t seem very high on him because of all the interceptions in college. I can’t see the Raiders taking Love in the first round. They do really like Hurts, but the Marcus Mariota signing allows them not to force anything. If Hurts is there in the third round, I think they take him.
It is not that surprising to see the Raiders aren’t that interested in Love considering they would need to spend one of their two first-round picks on him and he is believed to be more of a project than the other prospects.
Hurts’ dual-threat ability could lead to him playing a Taysom Hill-like role in the NFL, which would be enticing for Mayock and the Raiders in the third round. He ultimately may be drafted in the second round though, where the Raiders do not have any picks unless they trade up.
Regardless of if the Raiders draft a quarterback or not, there’s almost no scenario where Carr is not their starter under center when the 2020 season starts.
