The Las Vegas Raiders clearly have a quarterback conundrum. They weren't confident enough to hand Aidan O'Connell the role this season (and now he's on injured reserve), and Gardner Minshew is clearly not the answer.
So, just what will the Raiders do under center? Will they try and draft a quarterback in April? Or will they try and swing a trade for one?
Vic Tafur of The Athletic has a feeling Las Vegas would like to consider the latter, and you would have to imagine even more so after Minshew's most recent benching.
During a recent episode of the Just Win podcast, Tafur mentioned that he thinks the Raiders would like to pursue a trade for Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson if he becomes available.
“I think the Raiders might be more interested in Anthony Richardson,” Tafur said. "The high concerns about Bryce Young that everybody has are also shared in this building. I don’t think the Colts are going to trade Richardson. But if they were going to, I think the Raiders might listen or be involved in whatever talks there were."
Much like the Carolina Panthers sat Young, the Colts recently benched Richardson in favor of Joe Flacco, putting his future with Indianapolis in question.
The Colts selected Richardson with the fourth overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, but he was limited to just four games during his rookie campaign due to a concussion and then a shoulder injury that would ultimately require surgery.
Richardson went on to make six starts this season, throwing for 958 yards, four touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing just 44.4 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 57.2 before head coach Shane Steichen pulled the plug.
The University of Florida product is supremely talented, but his subpar accuracy and his reckless style of play have been major drawbacks for him thus far.
But on the plus side, Richardson is just 22 years old and has ample room to grow.
The question is, how much would Las Vegas be willing to part with for Richardson in a potential trade, and would the Raiders simply be better off aiming for a signal-caller in the draft rather than surrendering valuable assets for a guy who was just benched?
