Raiders Rumors: Should Vegas Go Star-Hunting At Quarterback?

Jeff Spiegel
Jeff Spiegel
6 Min Read
Jan 19, 2020; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (10) hugs Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) after the NFC Championship Game at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The inevitable has become reality: after nearly a decade, Derek Carr is no longer with the Las Vegas Raiders. So…what’s next?

Of all the questions General Manager Dave Ziegler and Head Coach Josh McDaniels have to answer this off-season, none is bigger than this one. As I see it, the Raiders have three “pathways” towards solving their quarterback problem: they could go star hunting, they could make a lateral move towards a Carr-esque level quarterback, or they could go with a band-aid solution with an eye towards the future.

The truth is, each of these options has some pros and cons — and so over the coming days, we’re going to take a deep dive into what each pathway might look like and why we would advocate for or against that decision. Today, we’re starting with the headline-grabbing, sexy option: go find a superstar.

Aaron Rodgers, Packers
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) celebrates his 74 yard touchdown pass to Green Bay Packers wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling (83) during the 4th quarter of the Green Bay Packers 42-24 win over the Oakland Raiders at Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019. Photo by Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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In reality, this list of options has just one name on it: Aaron Rodgers.

A couple of months ago, you might have put Tom Brady in this group, but (thankfully, in my opinion) he has retired and removed himself from consideration, leaving Rodgers alone. Now, regardless of what you think about Rodgers’ off-field antics, the 39-year-old (who remains under contract with the Packers) is just one year removed from back-to-back MVPs in 2020 and 2021. The point? He’s in a different tier from the Jimmy Garroppolo’s of the world, okay?

And yet…he’s 39 and coming off the worst season by just about any metric imaginable. QBR? Career worst. Rating? Career worst. Interceptions? Second-worst mark of his career. Yards per attempt? Second worst mark of his career.

You get the point.

This leads to the billion-dollar question…should the Raiders pursue Rodgers?

Let’s dive a little deeper into the argument for and against…

The argument for rests on the desire to win and win immediately. Maybe McDaniels looks at this roster — and the weapons at his disposal — and says that the window for competing is actually open. If that’s the case, then Rodgers has to be the pick because he’s the only guy available (in my opinion) who gives you a chance to be a threat in 2023. The only guy.

And who knows, maybe you can look past his brutal 2022 — and brutal performance in the playoffs — and squint enough to believe that teaming back up with Davante Adams will rekindle the MVP level he was at 12 months ago. Heck, Adams wants Rodgers to come to Vegas, it seems like, which should count for something considering all of the outside noise we hear about Rodgers the person, right?

But then there’s the flip side…

What if you can’t get past a 39-year-old who seemed to fall off a cliff in some respects? After all, it’s not as if Rodgers is coming at a discount — he’d cost you some draft capital (that’s what most teams get when they decide to move on from a highly competent NFL quarterback) and has a huge contract that is fully guaranteed in 2023 (but has an out afterward).

Aaron Rodgers, Packers, Raiders
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) throws downfield during the third quarter of their game Sunday, October 21, 2019 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. The Green Bay Packers beat the Oakland Raiders 42-24.MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
Packers21 21 Hoffman

For an organization like the Raiders that is caught in purgatory at the moment — they have elite players no longer on rookie contracts (Maxx Crosby, Davante Adams, Darren Waller, Hunter Renfrow, Kolton Miller), but they’re not quite good enough to be competitive at a championship level. Does moving draft capital (and the rookie contracts that come with those picks) for a guy who will clog up your cap make sense in this phase of the Raiders rebuild?

For me, the verdict here would be a PASS on the star-chasing route. Ultimately, it’s a combination of the draft pick cost (which might not be crazy given Rodgers’ age and contract) and salary cost alongside the question marks we have about his on-field abilities. What the Raiders need is a crop of young guys to come in and plug a dozen different holes on affordable contracts if they have any chance of building something sustainable.

Honestly, it’s tough to write that last paragraph because it’s an admission that the 2023 season is going to be a disappointment — and yet, this is the price we’re paying for botched drafts and contracts over the past decade. Bite the bullet, build for the future, and hope that 2024 is when the turn-around begins in earnest.

Information

Jeff Spiegel was raised in California but currently resides in Portland, Oregon. After graduating from the University of Oregon, he worked in sports before entering journalism full time — first as a Sports Reporter and then as the Associate Editor of a small newspaper. Online, he has been writing about both the Raiders and Dodgers since 2012 — having written for DodgersNation.com and SBNation.com prior to joining both DodgerBlue.com and RaidersNewswire.com. He left full-time journalism in 2012 to become a pastor. Jeff can be found on Twitter at @JeffSpiegel. Favorite Raider This one is an easy one for me: Charles Woodson. When the Raiders drafted him, there was nothing to dislike about the guy — he was exciting and he was freaking good. Unfortunately, of course, he left after eight seasons — but when he returned in 2013 it was one of the better Raider moments of my lifetime. At that point, I didn't care how washed he was (and he wasn't!) — I just liked having him back in the silver and black. Obviously Tim Brown is another guy that was easy to love, but Woodson is the all-timer for me. As far as current, I'm still a believer in Derek Carr and think he's going to figure this all out. Favorite Raider Moment I think I'll go with the two weeks leading up to the 2001 Super Bowl. As a kid, I remember getting the newspaper every morning to read what they were talking about, clipping out the articles to keep for later. It was obviously far more exciting than the Super Bowl itself, but I'll never forget those moments of hope leading up to the Super Bowl. I referenced it above, but second to that was probably the return of Charles Woodson in 2013 — I just loved the guy, and never dreamed he'd actually come back.