The Las Vegas Raiders made a splash earlier this offseason by acquring veteran quarterback Geno Smith from the Seattle Seahawks to boost their quarterback room after trading the role back and forth between three players last season.
With new head coach Pete Carroll in charge, the Raiders front office came to a deal to extend Smith for the next two seasons worth $75 million and $65.5 guaranteed. The win-now scheme the Raiders have is starting to become a reality, but the extension does raise one eyebrow in a rather important area of the franchise.
The 2025 NFL Draft is just around the corner, and the Raiders hold the sixth overall pick. While many believed the Raiders would be selecting a quarterback before the acquisition of Smith, the franchise has thrown curveball after curveball, keeping several mock drafters and analysts on their toes.
With the Smith extension, does that somewhat hint that the Raiders quarterback issue, one that held the franchise down a ton last season, is no longer a priority? According to ESPN's Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter, the draft plans have taken an unexpected turn for Las Vegas.
"I think this almost clinches the fact that the Las Vegas Raiders will bypass a quarterback in the first round," Schefter said.
"Maybe they will revisit it in an early round later on, but it's hard to imagine that they go and give Geno Smith $75 million and then turn around three weeks later and draft a quarterback in the first round. I don't think they're taking a page from the {Atlanta} Falcons playbook in terms of plays they are going to run here."
Throughout the whole offseason and even recently, the Raiders have been bounced around taking a quarterback; whether that was Shedeur Sanders or another prospect down the line. Perhaps now locking down Smith for the foreseeable future opens the door surrounding the running back room.
That's another area the Raiders have been linked to boosting through the draft, as multiple mock drafts have the franchise taking Ashton Jeanty with their sixth overall pick. Who knows, maybe those mock drafts spoke that scenario into existence.
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