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Raiders head coach Pete Carroll my be looking to replace his backup QB.
The Las Vegas Raiders have scraped together just one winning season since 2016, when they still made Oakland their home. But 2025 is clearly intended to open a new era of Raiders football. They brought in a new head coach, pulling former Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, New York Jets and USC coach Pete Carroll out of retirement.
The Raiders also added a new minority owner, and though he controls only five percent of the team, Tom Brady is no ordinary minority owner. The future Hall of Fame, legendary quarterback reportedly will be closely involved in football-related decision-making.
And perhaps most importantly, after a 4-13 season — their worst since finishing 3-13 in the 2014 campaign — the Raiders quickly moved on from two of the three quarterbacks on their roster. In February, they non-tendered former Atlanta Falcons third-round draft pick Desmond Ridder. Then in March the Raiders released six-year veteran Gardener Minshew, who has since signed with the Kansas City Chiefs.
New Raiders Regime Cleans Out the Quarterback Room
After hiring Carrol, the Raiders sent a third-round pick to Seattle for the coach’s quarterback there, Geno Smith. That left Raiders 2023 fourth-rounder Aidan O’Connell, who started seven games last season after Minshew went out with an injury, going 2-5 until he, himself, suffered an injury.
But could O’Connell also be out the door as Carroll, Brady and Raiders general manager John Spytek — another new addition this year — continue to clean house?
The Raiders added not one but two new quarterbacks in the sixth round of the draft yesterday, claiming Montana State signal caller Tommy Mellott with the 213th pick, then two slots later tacking on two-time national champion Cam Miller of North Dakota State.
Of course, Miller’s championships came in the FCS, the second tier of college football.
After the draft was complete, the Raiders made a move to bring in a bowl-game winning quarterback from the top-tier FBS. Looking locally, Vegas went to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas to sign quarterback Hajj-Mailik Williams as an undrafted free agent.
Williams started the 2024 season at UNLV behind starter Matthew Sluka. But Sluka, a transfer from Holy Cross, chose to leave UNLV and transfer again after a dispute with the school over his NIL money arrangement. That put Williams into the starter’s job, where he went from backup to bowl winner, winning eight games and leading UNLV to what ended up as an 11-3 record, 6-1 in the Mountain West Conference, and a victory over Cal in the LA Bowl, by a 24-14 score.
Williams a True Dual Threat QB
The win was UNLV’s first bowl victory in 24 years, when they defeated Arkansas in the Las Vegas Bowl. Against Cal, Williams threw for two touchdowns, giving him 19 on the season. The Atlanta-born Williams also ran for nine TDs, making him responsible for 28 on the season.
A true dual threat, Williams threw for 1,941 runs and ran for another 851 for a total of 2,792 on the season. He threw just five interceptions and led the MWC in yards gained per pass attempt with 7.7.
The Rebels finished with a national top-25 ranking (24), recording their finest season since their 11-2 record in 1984, 40 years earlier.
Williams had been projected as a potential Day Three draft pick, but perhaps due to his relatively advanced age, fell out of the draft completely. The Raiders then wasted no time inking him to a UDFA deal.
