Last year at the the bye week, the Las Vegas Raiders had seven losses and were starting to think about the next year’s quarterback class.
This year at the bye week, the Raiders have seven losses and all everyone can talk about is the best college quarterbacks. That’s because this year’s bye came three weeks earlier and at 2-7, the Raiders may not get locked out of the top three guys like they were in April.
In Nick Baumgardner’s post-NFL trade deadline mock draft last week, the Raiders picked third (based on Austin Mock’s NFL playoff projections) and made Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders the first quarterback off the board. Sanders has thrown for 2,882 yards, 24 touchdowns and six interceptions in nine games for the 7-2 Buffaloes, who sit in second place in the Big 12 Conference and could find their way into the College Football Playoff mix with a strong finish.
Sanders is accurate on the move, but there are some concerns that he holds onto the ball too long and lacks a big arm. Colorado has won six of its last seven games though and Sanders has apparently toned down some things after being questioned for his comments, work ethic, and need for a Rolls-Royce earlier in the season.
Here’s Baumgardner’s scouting report:
“If we were simply stacking this draft class’ top 30 players, there would not be a quarterback in the upper half. However, if we’d have attempted that same exercise this time last year, neither Bo Nix nor Michael Penix Jr. would’ve been on the list at all. I’d pick (Michigan defensive tackle) Mason Graham if I were the Raiders, but I’m not Mark Davis — and I don’t know whether he can say no to Deion Sanders’ son. Shedeur Sanders isn’t a top-10 player, but I do think he’s first-round worthy.”
Sanders has been linked to the Raiders even before Tom Brady bought in as a minority owner last month. Brady once trained with him at the behest of his father, Deion, and later signed the younger Sanders to an NIL deal with Brady’s apparel brand in 2022.
Deion Sanders, Colorado’s coach, said in July that he wouldn’t mind seeing Shedeur end up with the Raiders.
“I love what (Antonio Pierce) brings to the table,” Sanders said. “I don’t want him to lose to the point where he has the ability to get Shedeur. Let’s get that straight. I don’t want that to happen, I really don’t, but I wouldn’t mind if, some kind of way, it happens that (Shedeur) is here.”
Based on the Raiders losing five straight games and firing three assistants before this week’s bye, Pierce may need to win a few games to ensure he is back next season.
But Pierce clearly didn’t want a stop-gap quarterback last offseason, and he now has three of them in Gardner Minshew II, Aidan O’Connell and Desmond Ridder. Minshew leads the NFL with 12 turnovers and was benched for the third time this season in the Week 9 loss in Cincinnati.
Pierce just replaced offensive coordinator Luke Getsy with Scott Turner, and one of the questions that owner Mark Davis and general manager Tom Telesco would have to ask is whether they trust this staff with the development of a young quarterback like Sanders. Maybe Brady can help with that.
Sanders said last week that he is graduating early and heading to the NFL after this season. He seems all in on the Raiders and was seen talking to Davis during the WNBA playoffs last month. Davis owns the Las Vegas Aces.
Sanders also spoke highly of Brady’s decision to join the ownership group.
“I think (becoming an owner) was a great decision, great thing for (Brady),” Sanders said on his podcast two weeks ago. “He did everything he can on the field. So off the field, he’s, I guess, indulging in a lot of different things now.
“But they said he’s looking for a quarterback, so we’ll see.”
