Oakland Raiders: 5 backup quarterbacks to target in free agency

Here is one guy that could seriously wind up with the Raiders as Derek Carr’s backup in 2018. While he had a good thing going with the Arizona Cardinals, it doesn’t help Drew Stanton‘s cause for returning to Arizona now that former head coach Bruce Arians and former starting quarterback Carson Palmer retired.

Arizona looks to be in a state of transition. The Cardinals have hired former Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks to be their next head coach. While the highly mechanical offense was commonplace in Glendale under Arians, who knows what the Cardinals offense could look like?

Stanton has shown that he can win games as a backup quarterback. He went 9-4 in 13 games as a starter for the Cardinals from 2014 to 2017. While he’s never been an accurate passer, do keep in mind the difficult throws that were required to run Arians’ intricate vertical offense. Perhaps a transition to the West Coast system of Jon Gruden’s could be key in extending Stanton’s NFL career?

Stanton won’t be as pricey as Matt Moore, but would be infinitely more productive than Chad Henne. The only issue is that he hasn’t work with Gruden or Greg Olson before. He and Carr will be asked to learn the entire Gruden offense together from day one. However, Stanton is an upgrade over Manuel and could win games should Carr fall to injury.