With the news that Geno Smith and the Raiders reached an agreement on a two-year, $75 million contract extension, the chances of any first-round quarterbacks ending up in Las Vegas took a major hit.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter talked about the extension on Thursday and he believes the Raiders have virtually eliminated themselves from taking a quarterback with the no. 6 pick in the draft.
”I think this almost clinches the fact that the Las Vegas Raiders will bypass a quarterback in the first round,” Schefter said on ESPN’s NFL Live.
”Maybe they’ll revisit it… later on, but it’s hard to imagine that they’ll give Geno Smith $75 million today and then turn around three weeks later and draft a quarterback in the first round. I don’t think they are taking a page from the Falcons’ playbook.”
The timing of Smith’s extension and Schefter’s report is interesting because it was less than 24 hours ago that Schefter said he believes Shedeur Sanders could drop out of the first five picks in the draft.
“It certainly feels like the Cleveland Browns are inclined to look elsewhere, aside from the quarterback [position]” Schefter said on the Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday.
“It’s starting to feel like the New York Giants at no. 3 are starting to look elsewhere other than quarterback. So if the Browns don’t take Shedeur Sanders at 2 and if the Giants don’t take Shedeur Sanders at 3, and that is the feel that I’m getting recently, where is Shedeur Sanders going?”
It’s not often that Schefter is far off the mark with his NFL insights, so if he believes Sanders could be moving toward a slide in the draft, there’s a good chance it’s going to happen.
And if that’s the case… could the Raiders be in the mix for Shedeur a little later in the draft?
Maybe with their second-round pick or trade back into the latter half of the first round?
