The Las Vegas Raiders are looking for a franchise-caliber quarterback who can easily start over Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connor. While the 2024 NFL Draft quarterback class has plenty of options, landing one of them could be costly.
Las Vegas is already aware that the Chicago Bears will choose Caleb Williams with the first overall pick. While the second overall pick is available, the Washington Commanders have expressed dissatisfaction with the offers they have received from clubs for the selection.
It leaves the New England Patriots (third overall pick), Arizona Cardinals (fourth overall pick), and Los Angeles Chargers (fifth overall pick) as viable trade-up alternatives for the Raiders. When acquiring any of those picks, Las Vegas would most likely trade up for Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye.
Both players have exceptional physical characteristics that an offense can build around, and both could be the franchise’s face in Las Vegas. The problem for the organization is that the Minnesota Vikings also want to trade up, and they have two first-round picks (11th and 23rd overall) in the 2024 NFL Draft.
It means that general manager Tom Telesco would have to forego even more future draft money to secure a franchise-caliber quarterback for Antonio Pierce. As Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell argued, in what some saw as a negotiation strategy, two 2024 first-round picks are more valuable than a first in both 2024 and 25.
In a mailbag for The Athletic, Raiders reporter Vic Tafur discussed how much he believes it would cost the Raiders to move up for a top-four pick.
“I believe it will take at least three draft picks, and they may all be first-rounders. There are a lot of teams looking for quarterbacks, and you have to persuade one of the top three teams in the draft that they don’t actually need one. And I don’t see the Washington commanders passing up No. 2.
Even for a quarterback-needy team like the Raiders, giving up three first-round selections to get Maye or Daniels is probably not worth it. It’s a considerably more cost-effective alternative to trade down from 13th overall or hold that pick and then move up from the second round to the end of Round 1 to choose Michael Penix Jr.
While both Daniels and Maye offer more upside than Penix Jr., the Raiders’ roster has enough holes to fill that trading up into the top ten picks is improbable.
