HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders are at the choose-your-own-adventure portion of their search to fill the most important position in team sports.
Because while they return Aidan O’Connell — who started 10 games last season as a rookie and finished the final four with a flourish, leading the Raiders to a 3-1 record while throwing eight touchdown passes with no interceptions — signed veteran Gardner Minshew in free agency and have Anthony Brown on the roster, it’s obvious Raiders coach Antonio Pierce is in new general manager Tom Telesco’s ear about upgrading at quarterback.
But how do the Raiders, who hold the No. 13 pick in the NFL draft, move mountains to get into position to select one of the top prospects?
Again, choose your own adventure, Raider Nation.
Heavily linked to LSU Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels, and with USC’s Caleb Williams all but a done deal to the Chicago Bears at No. 1, the Raiders would have to move up 11 slots to “assure” themselves a shot at drafting Daniels, the guy Pierce recruited to and coached at Arizona State from 2019-21.
To do that, a three-year-old blueprint exists, kind of.
The San Francisco 49ers went from No. 12 to No. 3 in 2021 to draft Trey Lance. The cost? Besides swapping first-rounders, the Niners gave the Miami Dolphins their first-round picks in 2022 and 2023 as well as a third-rounder in 2022.
Three first-rounders and a third-round pick would seemingly be the starting point … plus the additional cost difference between going from 13 to 2 and 12 to 3, along with three years’ worth of inflation.
“I think everything’s on the table,” Pierce said at the recent NFL owners’ meetings. “Whatever makes the Raiders better, I’m all for.
And when I say I’m a go-getter, [that means] whatever it takes to win, whatever it takes to get the best player to make our team the best, that’s what I want to do, and that’s what I’d like to see us do.
“Tom Telesco has a lot more experience in the draft than myself. I’m going to lean on him and his expertise on what we should do.
And if it’s the right fit and that guy there that we want is a Raider, and he fits the Raider culture in our way, then we’ll go get him.”
