Raiders scouting combine 2024: Las Vegas doing homework on QB class

Raiders have had formal meetings with early and late round prospects in Indy

Indianapolis – The Las Vegas Raiders moved on from Derek Carr after the 2022 season. He was their quarterback for nine seasons, but the tag team of Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler decided to go the veteran quarterback route to replace him.

They signed Jimmy Garoppolo, which didn’t pan out for the tandem. It led to a rookie QB, Aidan O’Connell, taking his place after McDaniels and Ziegler were fired. O’Connell was solid during his rookie year but needed to do more to solidify the job. Now, the Raiders are deep-diving into the 2024 draft class to find the next franchise signal caller to take the reigns of the organization.

At the NFL scouting combine, the Raiders have been diligent in their search, talking to most of the quarterbacks at the draft. The biggest name, of course, is Jayden Daniels, who is familiar with new head coach Antonio Pierce. Pierce recruited Daniels and has a personal relationship with him outside of football. He talked about his meeting with the Raiders at the combine.

“it was great obviously going in there. I already knew coach Antonio Pierce.” Daniels said, “Overall, meeting the whole staff and meeting everybody, it was a great energy being able to sit down and talk ball.”

After his press conference, Daniels would be excited to play for the Raiders when speaking to CBS Sports.

While it is assumed Drake Maye would be over Daniels to start the draft process, reports are coming out that the league is higher on Daniels. If the Raiders decide to trade up to the number three pick, it could be for Maye if Daniels goes to the Washington Commanders at two.

The Raiders put Maye on the board and had clips of his good and bad offensive plays.

“I have so much respect for him for earning the right of the guys and kind of the nod of the program,” Maye said, “It went in well in there, and we watched some good plays and some bad plays.”

If the Raiders stay at 13, JJ McCarthy comes into play with his buzz rising at the combine. McCarthy has the upside of a franchise quarterback and has connections to Luke Getsy through his quarterback coach at Michigan.

“Coach Getsy, great seeing him. Coach (Kirk) Campbell used to play for him, so that was really cool,” McCarthy said. “That was my quarterback coach at Michigan. Just an awesome interaction.”

The Raiders’ drafting of McCarthy could save them draft capital while still finding the QB of the future. He is a tough player who could be intriguing for the coaching staff to develop, especially with the familiarity.

Raiders have met with later-round prospects as well. One of them was South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler, who was the Senior Bowl MVP. He could be an option at 44 and knows Pierce, being from Arizona. I asked Rattler about his relationship with Pierce.

“I just remember from high school with him being at Arizona State,” Rattler stated. “We just chopped it up, and it went well.”

The Raiders are going to add a quarterback in the draft with them having formals with prospects who have first and later-round potential. The question comes with how aggressive they will be, with Ian Rapoport reporting they are one of the trade-up candidates for this draft. Pierce appears to want to be assertive, but Tom Telesco is patient with his draft process. The anticipation of their moves will have fans on the edge of their seats.