2020 NFL Draft: Dark horse teams to address each position early
Quarterback: Las Vegas Raiders
There were a lot of choices for this position, but I did not want to be obvious. Pittsburgh and Indianapolis will likely look for replacements for their aging veterans at some point in this draft, and New England, Los Angeles, Miami and Cincinnati currently have a hole at the position.
For this pick, I wanted to go outside of the box; although it seems unlikely, the Las Vegas Raiders could be a sneaky pick to grab a quarterback in the first round.
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This idea seems unlikely at first given the Raiders’ free agent moves. They signed Marcus Mariota to a two-year, incentive-laden deal worth $17.6 million and still have Derek Carr under contract at his $25 million AAV price tag.
Yet, both deals are not long-term in nature. The Raiders would save $16.1 million against the cap by cutting or trading Carr this offseason, while only taking a $7.9 million dead cap hit. Mariota’s deal is structured essentially as a one-year contract with a 2021 club option.
The Raiders also have sufficient ammunition to select a quarterback early in the draft; they have two first-round picks and three third-round picks. Las Vegas could easily trade up to grab one of the top-rated passers or potentially trade down in the first round to select a quarterback like Jordan Love or Jake Fromm.
Jon Gruden realizes he needs a special quarterback to compete in a division where he plays Patrick Mahomes twice a year. In Las Vegas’ two games versus Kansas City last year, Derek Carr threw for less than 200 passing yards in each contest and tossed one touchdown compared to three interceptions. While the Raiders certainly have a talented enough roster to grab a Wild Card spot this year with Carr, general manager Mike Mayock may be thinking about the long-term approach and take a quarterback earlier than we expect.