Through the first two weeks of Raiders training camp, it seems there could be some regrets that the team was not quite as aggressive as they could have been in addressing the quarterback deficiency that cropped up throughout the NFL season in 2023.
Aidan O’Connell was solid, but certainly not top-flight, and nowhere near a level that could push the Raiders to the role of a legitimate contender. So, veteran journeyman Gardner Minshew was brought in as free-agent to serve as a so-called bridge quarterback, but when the Raiders did not—or could not, really, because of the way the draft fell—pick a quarterback in the first round, it became unclear what it was that Minshew was a bridge to.
So the team now has O’Connell and Minshew for 2024, hoping one will play well enough and make few enough mistakes to allow the team’s defense to shine. That would pave the way for the Raiders to draft a quarterback in 2025.
That’s how things shake out, at least, in the latest mock draft from the analysis site, The 33rd Team. It’s early yet, and impossible to say how the quarterback class will fluctuate in the upcoming college season. But the site pegs Georgia star Carson Beck as the next Raiders quarterback.
Carson Beck Finally Getting His Chance
The 33rd Team’s Ian Valentino obviously does not much like the Raiders’ chances in 2024, because he has them picking No. 7 overall to land Carson Beck. Maybe the Raiders could get there by trade. But more likely, he’s predicting the Raiders to be the seventh-worst team in football which, even among pessimists, seems a longshot.
Still, here’s how Valentino projects Beck landing with the Raiders:
“The 2025 quarterback class is certainly up for grabs. Carson Beck’s blend of accuracy, processing, and performance under pressure makes him the easiest of the bunch to project. He might not have the huge upside that allows him to fight off late bloomers with better traits, but he’s the surest bet we’ve seen in the crop.”
Beck is not a youngster by any stretch. He has been kicking around Athens for four years, where he did warrant playing time on the Bulldogs’ two national championship teams and was a teammate of Raiders primary running back Zamir White.
He threw for 3,941 yards in 14 games last year, and completed 24 touchdown passes against just six interceptions.
Raiders Quarterbacks Still a Major Concern
It’s not a bad thought, Beck in a Raiders uniform. To get there, though, would have to mean a massive disappointment from the Raiders offense this year, as well as underperformance from the defense. There’s little chance that this team will take a step backward from the 8-9 record it put up last season.
At worst, it should be 8-9 again. At best, there will be a slight improvement.
Still, the concern about the quarterbacks room is real. Coach Antonio Pierce has not picked one yet, not even as a preseason starter. That’s not because both have been so sharp during training camp. It’s because neither has thrown well enough to seize the job.
“We’ve still got two more true training camp practices, then we’ve got Wednesday, Thursday, and then that’s when we’ll start looking at what we want to do game-wise,” Pierce told reporters early this week. “Like I said, both quarterbacks are gonna play a legit quarter. Who goes out first and who goes out second really doesn’t matter. [They will] get hopefully an equal amount of snaps and opportunity to showcase.”
