Raiders show major interest in draft’s most polarizing prospect

The Las Vegas Raiders have been involved in a ton of rumors this offseason. Whether it be them going after Aaron Rodgers, the eventual signing of Jimmy Garoppolo, or even the rumors that they may still go after a quarterback with their first pick which, as things currently stand, is number seven. So, with all […]

Justin Churchill College Football & NFL Trending News Writer
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© Doug Engle / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Las Vegas Raiders have been involved in a ton of rumors this offseason. Whether it be them going after Aaron Rodgers, the eventual signing of Jimmy Garoppolo, or even the rumors that they may still go after a quarterback with their first pick which, as things currently stand, is number seven.

So, with all of the rumors, it's so hard to know what you should believe and what you shouldn't believe. The rumors of possibly still taking a quarterback are a little more serious though because even Josh McDaniels has said it's a possibility.

"I think we would take the best player," McDaniels said via NFL.com. "We've kind of said that since we came here. I think we think that's the right way to go. [General manager Dave Ziegler] and I both believe in that: Take the best football player. It always makes your football team better."

At seven there is a chance that the best guy on the board could be a quarterback. There are teams above them in the draft order that don't necessarily need a quarterback like the Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks, and Detroit Lions.

But that doesn't mean one of those teams wouldn't also take a quarterback, I mean the Raiders don't need one and they could take a quarterback. Everything is so all over the place and up in the air, that we really don't know what will happen.

But we know the Raiders aren't ruling anything out.

"I'd say there's a chance we're going to end up adding to the quarterback room in free agency here, continuing to move forward, and then also we're looking at every guy in the draft, too," McDaniels continued. "So we're doing our work. We're doing our due diligence. We'll see how the board falls."

Their board could have anything from quarterback to offensive lineman to defensive tackle, to even secondary guys on it. Heck, at this point, they could take an edge guy at pick seven too, for all we know. They don't need an edge, but like we said earlier – they don't need a quarterback either.

But from what we do know, is that they really like Anthony Richardson, the quarterback out of the University of Florida who has seamlessly risen up the draft board over the last few weeks. His ability to be a dual-threat guy is intriguing to every team, oh, and his athleticism is off the charts.

He had one of the best NFL Draft Combines we have seen from a quarterback when it comes to athleticism. He ran a 4.43 40 yards dash.

He also recently had his Pro Day at the University of Florida, where the Raiders were the first team to approach him afterward. By the Raiders, I mean general manager Dave Ziegler.

After his Pro Day, he spoke to the media, and they asked him about his meeting with the Raiders. Here is what he had to say on NFL Network:

"The dinner was great, you know, talking to the guys and getting to know them and them getting to know me as a person as a player, you know, and just trying to figure out the expectations in case they were to draft me," Richardson said on TV. "What they expect from me as a rookie or what they're going to expect for me in the building, you know, so just trying to get familiarized with that stuff and just live on."

Richardson seems like a great kid who has a ton of potential. While they don't need a quarterback right now, they will need one eventually. Jimmy Garoppolo isn't a guy that you can trust to play all 17 games. He has only played every game in a season once, and that just so happens to be the year he led the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl, as he played 16 games – which was before the extra game rule was added.

Either way, you just can't rely on him to do that, and that's fine. That is a huge reason why the Raiders may want to go and get another guy. Richardson could be that guy based on everything we are hearing.