The Las Vegas Raiders have been in the doldrums of the NFL for far too long. With a new ownership group led by Tom Brady and a new head coach in Pete Carroll, the team is looking to find its way back to relevancy.
Last season, it was a hard watch rooting for the Raiders as they couldn’t string together solid performances on either end of the field. However, without a starting-caliber quarterback on the roster, the needs of the offense are far greater than the defense. As a result, one analyst believes they need to take a mighty swing in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Las Vegas Raiders Trade Up for a Quarterback?
In 2024, it was Gardner Minshew II and Aidan O’Connell who took on the bulk of the responsibility for the Las Vegas offense. Neither had a great season, despite a late surge from O’Connell pushing him to 20th on PFSN’s QB+ metric. Minshew, meanwhile, finished fifth-worst (35th out of 39 eligible quarterbacks).
Heading into 2025, it might be tough for the Raiders to find their guy, especially in the draft where they hold the sixth overall pick in the current NFL Draft order.
The 2025 NFL Draft is not as loaded with quarterbacks as it was in 2024, so finding someone at No. 6 might be difficult. This is exactly why Aaron Schatz of ESPN is imploring the new ownership group to take a swing in the draft.
“The move would be to trade up into the top three picks, preferably the top two, to ensure that [Shedeur] Sanders comes to Las Vegas. Obviously, the problem is that it would cost additional draft capital. … Nonetheless, if the Raiders want to guarantee they’ll get Sanders, they’ll need to make a trade.”
He believes Sanders to the Raiders makes perfect sense, and his father Deion Sanders, the head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, has given his approval to Las Vegas as a potential destination for his son.
Beyond that, his mobility and ability to function without an elite offensive line should translate well with the Raiders, as Schatz writes.
“The Raiders don’t have one of the league’s top offensive lines, but their line did rank a reasonable 17th in pass block win rate (59.4%), so Sanders should have time to stay in the pocket and further develop his passing skills.”
Any improvement from a unit that ranked as the fourth-worst in the entire NFL, per PFSN’s Offense+ metric, will be a big step up. It is unclear how Sanders will fare in the pros, but the output from the O’Connell/Minshew pairing shouldn’t be hard to replicate or even exceed.
However, the latest mock draft from PFSN predicts that a different team will take the route that Schatz is begging the Raiders to take. Anthony Pasciolla believes that it will be the New Orleans Saints who go after Sanders and trade up to the fourth pick to snag him.
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After trying out the Derek Carr experiment for multiple seasons without any substantial returns, Pasciolla believes letting Sanders develop behind him for at least part of the season might fix New Orleans’ woes.
“Because the Colorado Buffaloes star lacks polish, he could sit behind Carr for at least half a season,” Pasciolla wrote in his latest 2025 NFL mock draft. “The New England Patriots originally held this pick but likely wouldn’t be afraid to move down a few selections for additional assets down the line.”
However, Carr is up for an extension where he’s made it clear that he isn’t looking for a bargain deal. Whether New Orleans meets his demands or not might ultimately decide if this deal comes to fruition.
As far as the Raiders are concerned, Pasciolla believes the team might go toward building out its defense and take Will Johnson from Michigan with a true game-changing offensive option not available.
