Derek Carr may have had confidence the Raiders would not select a quarterback in the 2019 NFL Draft, but that didn't stop the team from being connected to, and scouting, Kyler Murray and Dwayne Haskins.

Comments from General Manager Mike Mayock about always looking to see if you can upgrade a position spurred speculation that the Raiders might be in the market for a player to groom as a successor to Carr at an undetermined point in the future.

Obviously, Oakland didn't select a quarterback, and the team will be all in on Carr once again this season. However, in an interview with Peter King for Football Morning in America, Gruden was asked about those meetings and the team’s interest in this year’s crop of rookie quarterbacks.

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“We all loved Murray. That doesn’t mean we were gonna take him,” Gruden said. “How do you not love his performance, his playing style, what he accomplished? I had a blast with him [when the Raiders worked him out pre-draft in Dallas]. We didn’t think about going up to number one.”

Regardless, rumors and reports that Gruden had asked Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury about both Murray as a player/person as well as the availability of the No. 1 overall pick lit up the pre-draft process.

Gruden has made several moves to put his stamp on the Raiders since coming back into the NFL, so speculation he might do the same at quarterback wasn't much of a curveball.