The Las Vegas Raiders currently have no idea who their quarterback will be in 2025, which obviously creates a lot of problems for them heading into the offseason.
How will the Raiders solve the issue?
Well, Las Vegas owns the No. 6 overall pick in the NFL Draft, which may not be enough to land the team Shedeur Sanders. There may be a chance that Sanders slips, but it probably isn't likely.
That could mean that the Raiders need to get ahead of themselves and explore the free-agent market, and they continue to be linked to one name: Sam Darnold.
Darnold will represent the top signal-caller available in free agency thanks to a Pro Bowl campaign with the Minnesota Vikings.
Marcus Mosher of The 33rd Team seems to think that Las Vegas should go in the direction of signing Darnold, who is still not an entirely proven commodity in spite of his terrific 2024 season.
"Picking at No. 6, it seems unlikely that the Las Vegas Raiders will land Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders. However. with Pete Carroll signed on as the next head coach, it sure doesn’t feel like he’ll want to develop a quarterback anyway," Mosher wrote. "Sam Darnold is coming off the best season of his career and is only 27."
Darnold threw for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions while completing 66.2 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 102.5.
However, the USC product also had a plethora of options—including Justin Jefferson—at his disposal in Minnesota, which is something he absolutely would not have with the Raiders' current roster. Mosher is aware of this fact and made note of it.
"The Raiders will need to surround him with top-end talent as the Vikings did, but that shouldn’t be too hard with Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers already on the roster," Mosher added. "Darnold isn’t the perfect solution for Las Vegas, but he gives them a respectable quarterback in a division with Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, and Bo Nix."
Mosher predicts Las Vegas to sign Darnold to a three-year, $124 million contract, which is a tick over $41 million in terms of average annual value.
That's a whole lot of money for a guy who had just one good season out of seven, so it would be one heck of a risk for the Raiders.
However, if Las Vegas feels it may be unable to nab a quarterback in the draft, it may be left with no choice but to go the Darnold route.
