In ESPN’s 2025 NFL Mock Draft, the Raiders get a quarterback who could change the course of the team.
Perhaps it’s not a bad idea to play the long game.
Since the NFL Draft concluded last weekend, there has been a lot of discussion regarding the Raiders. The Raiders stayed at 15, missed out on six (!) different quarterbacks, and spent the most of the weekend working on their secondary in instead of going after a quarterback, despite numerous signs that they intended to go after one at some point in the early rounds.
There hasn’t been much appreciation for the team’s draft class, with the majority of draft analysts and Twitter users expressing confusion about some of the choices the organization made. But as teams that lose out on six quarterbacks frequently remark, there’s always next year. As per ESPN’s 2025 Mock Draft, the Raiders are going to come to the realization that having Gardner Minshew for two years is 1.5 too many. You didn’t think they would wait until next year, did you?
At ESPN’s ’25 Mock Draft, the Raiders select a possible franchise-altering quarterback.
The Raiders will finish as the 10th worst football team in the league if ESPN is correct. So, start to feel enthusiastic! The good news is that ESPN also believes they’ll come to the realization that sometimes it’s necessary to trade up for a quarterback, and they’ll go acquire possibly the finest prospect in the class of 2019: QB Shedeur Sanders of Colorado. What they say is this:
The Raiders offense, led by Brock Bowers, Jakobi Meyers, and Davante Adams, is capable of setting up a young passer with great skill. Sanders is also a smooth operator, with a fantastic ball placement percentage of 69.3% last season, which ranked seventh in the FBS, and a composed demeanor while he is in the pocket. Sanders’ internal clock needs to quicken before he can advance to the next level because he tends to make mistakes worse by hanging onto the ball for extended periods of time. He suffered 52 sacks in 2023 while playing behind a weak offensive line. However, he is extremely talented and could be the solution for Las Vegas. His style of play reminds me a lot of Geno Smith’s.
Despite his shortcomings, Sanders is an entertaining possibility and a better long-term option than keeping the Gardner Minshew/Aidan O’Connell tandem in the lineup for a few more seasons. Since the QB class for next year doesn’t appear to be particularly talented, Las Vegas would be well advised to select one of the few candidates who is predicted to be a real NFL starter. I hope that Deion shortlists Vegas.
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