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<\/p>\nThe 2024\u00a0NFL Draft\u00a0came and went and the\u00a0Las Vegas Raiders didn\u2019t deem it fit to select a quarterback prospect with any of their selections over the course of the three-day event.<\/p>\n
After witnessing the free-for-all and run of six quarterbacks taken before they could even pick at No. 13 overall, perhaps that was a wise overall choice by the Silver & Black. Even though the team did scout the upper echelon signal callers leading up to the draft extensively, the Raiders just weren\u2019t in reach to snag one.<\/p>\n
Instead of trading draft capital away to move up and select a highly touted quarterback prospect and without one falling to Las Vegas, general manager Tom Telesco and head coach Antonio Pierce went the best player available (BPA) route and went about their merry way adding more talent to the Raiders roster.<\/p>\n
As the draft went it\u2019s course, the Raiders didn\u2019t deem any other draftable signal caller worthy of one of their selections, as the team didn\u2019t believe any of the other prospects could push any of the quarterbacks currently on the roster. And while none of Las Vegas\u2019 eight draft picks were a signal caller, the team did add one rookie to the crew after the draft \u2014 South Alabama\u2019s Carter Bradley.<\/p>\n
By The Numbers: Carter Bradley<\/strong><\/p>\n With the son of former Raiders defensive coordinator and current defensive boss for the\u00a0Indianapolis Colts\u00a0Gus Bradley in tow, the Raiders have four signal callers in the quarterback room: Aidan O\u2019Connell, Gardner Minshew, Anthony Brown Jr., and Carter Bradley.<\/p>\n O\u2019Connell \u2014 a 2023 fourth-round pick that started 10 games for Las Vegas this past season \u2014 and Minshew \u2014 a free agent addition who started 13 games for Indianapolis in 2023 \u2014 are expected to duke it out for the starting quarterback role in camp. The winner becomes QB1 while the runner-up gets QB2 duties. And that gives both Brown and Bradley a fighting chance to make a go of becoming QB3 for the Raiders.<\/p>\n Why the hubbub over a spot that doesn\u2019t tend to have an impact?<\/p>\n I hear you.<\/p>\n Third-string quarterbacks tend to be inactive on game days and often earmarked with the emergency designation that allows them to dress and enter the game if either the starter or direct backup become unavailable to play. And neither Brown or Bradley appear to be imminent challengers to either O\u2019Connell and Minshew, thus reserve quarterback is the duo\u2019s likely destination \u2014 either on active roster or on practice squad.<\/p>\n But the third-string quarterback can play the role of scout team signal caller that runs the opponent\u2019s plays leading up to game day. And while O\u2019Connell and Minshew showed they\u2019re both durable in 2023, a team never knows what happens any given game or week and having depth at the all-important quarterback position is a necessity.<\/p>\n The quality of depth will emerge as the Raiders engage in offseason team activities (OTAs) and camps as they prep for 2024.<\/p>\n On the surface, of the four quarterbacks, Brown brings athleticism to the table that O\u2019Connell, Minshew, and Bradley don\u2019t offer \u2014 functional mobility. While Brown did clock an unofficial 4.71-second 40-yard dash at Oregon\u2019s Pro Day, he is the only \u201ctrue\u201d dual-threat in Las Vegas. O\u2019Connell may have clocked in a tick faster in his 40 at Purdue\u2019s Pro Day \u2014 4.70 \u2014 he\u2019s more of the pure pocket passer\/cement shoes status. Minshew offers movability but not to the level of Brown, and Bradley is an immobile type like O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n In terms of throwing arm, however, both Brown and Bradley are trailing O\u2019Connell and Minshew \u2014 big time. And it\u2019s due largely to being wildly inconsistent.<\/p>\n Brown can thread and zip the ball in there with velocity, ditto for Bradley, but the pair have maddening instances where their throws are pro-quality on some throws, then junior varsity-quality during other passes. Bradley in particular, is an intelligent prospect and knows where the ball should go, getting it there is in question. His arm limitations will dampen his production in the NFL. Against bigger, experienced, and faster pro athletes, Bradley\u2019s accuracy and lack of throwing his receivers open will jump out very quickly.<\/p>\n Take out this dart from Bradley at the\u00a0Senior Bowl\u00a0below. It\u2019s a very nice thread-the-need dart, but at the next level, that\u2019s either broken up or taken the other direction.<\/p>\n Of course, the Raiders could add more talent to the quarterback room like a veteran who can make both Brown and Bradley moot. Especially come June 1 when the designation for Jimmy Garoppolo hits the team\u2019s books and an additional $24 million or so of cap space becomes available to Las Vegas.<\/p>\n Yet, the work-in-progress nature of Brown and Bradley isn\u2019t detrimental to the Raiders at this point. That\u2019s the type of quarterback that makes sense as a third stringer. That\u2019s how O\u2019Connell began his career in Las Vegas before ascending to starter when Antonio Piece was given the reins over Josh McDaniels as head coach. The Raiders\u2019 current coaching staff \u2014 offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello, primarily \u2014 will get to develop and tinker with not only Brown and Bradley, but also O\u2019Connell and Minshew.<\/p>\n In Brown\u2019s case, the 25 year old does have NFL games under his belt starting a single contest while playing in another during his stint with the\u00a0Baltimore Ravens\u00a0in 2022. For Bradley, the 24 year old is a coach\u2019s kid and got insight and knowledge from veteran QB\u00a0Philip Rivers.<\/p>\n The battle for QB1 will take the spotlight and rightfully so. But the overall pecking order at signal caller is important. And may the best claim jobs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 2024\u00a0NFL Draft\u00a0came and went and the\u00a0Las Vegas Raiders didn\u2019t deem it fit to select a quarterback prospect with any of their selections over the course of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":117033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117034,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117032\/revisions\/117034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n