The Las Vegas Raiders don't have an inspiring quarterback room. They can change that with a single pick in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft where they will be selecting from the No. 13 spot overall. However, that doesn't seem to be ideal enough for Las Vegas to expect that it will be getting one of the three top quarterbacks in the draft class namely, Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans, Drake Maye of the North Carolina Tar Heels, and Jayden Daniels of the LSU Tigers.
Will the Raiders move up the draft to land Jayden Daniels?
Williams is virtually a Chicago Bear now, with the NFC North division franchise holding the rights to pick first in the draft via the Carolina Panthers. Another QB-needy team is picking right behind the Bears, with the Washington Commanders going second. Even if the Bears and the Commanders steer clear of Daniels, the New England Patriots, New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings, and Denver Broncos are some of the other teams picking before the Raiders, and each of those franchises has the potential to get a QB based on current settings.
In other words, if the Raiders want to drastically improve their odds of landing Daniels, whom Las Vegas head coach Antonio Pierce is close to and high on, they will have to trade up. And not just for a mere couple of spots up the board, but should be as high as No. 2, where the Commanders will be picking from. The type of package that the Raiders should dangle for such a spot is also part of this kind of plan.
“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,” wrote Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.
“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.”
At the moment, the Raiders have a total of eight picks in the 2024 NFL Draft. They have the No. 13 overall as mentioned, the No. 44 (Round 2), the No. 77 (Round 3), the No. 112 (Round 4), the No. 148 (Round 5), the No. 208 (Round 6 via the Kansas City Chiefs), the No. 223 (Round 7 via the Patriots), and the No. 229 (Round 7 via the Vikings).
Pierce has not shied away from expressing his admiration for Daniels, but it will mostly be on new Raider general manager Tom Telesco to make things happen on the trade front. He's got some experience making first-round trades during his time with the Los Angeles Chargers. In 2015, the Bolts moved up to the No. 15 spot from the No. 17 position in the first round to get running back Melvin Gordon after trading Round 1, Round 4, and Round 5 (2016) to the San Francisco 49ers.
Daniels is a tantalizing QB prospect who is widely viewed as one of the best in his class. He is coming off a Heisman Trophy-winning campaign in his last season with the Tigers in college, during which he passed for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns against only four interceptions while completing 72.2 percent of his throws. He is also someone Pierce is very familiar with as he was the one who brought the QB to the Arizona State Sun Devils back when the Raiders coach was still a recruiting coordinator for ASU.
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