Early 2020 mock drafts have the Oakland Raiders taking a QB early

The Oakland Raiders made nine selections in the 2019 NFL Draft, and did not grab a single quarterback, but early 2020 mocks have them doing just that.

The Oakland Raiders were the subject of a ton of quarterback rumors heading into the 2019 NFL Draft, as some felt they could trade up to select Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray at No. 1 overall. In fact, one “expert” even had the Raiders trading up to No. 2 to get Missouri’s Drew Lock, who was a second round pick of the Denver Broncos.

The truth of the matter is, these experts do not know what they are talking about, and while the Raiders did work out the quarterbacks in the draft class, there was never any real danger to Derek Carr. Only 28-years old, Carr is coming off a season that saw him throw for nearly 70 percent of his passes, as well as going over 4,000 yards for the first time in his career.

During the first round, the Raiders passed on a quarterback three times, but that did not stop people from stating they could take one at No. 35 overall. When they moved down a couple spots, that noise finally went away, as the team continued to bring in players to help the roster, and build around Carr.

With the 2019 NFL Draft in the rearview mirror, that has not stopped the media from continuing to feel the team will replace Carr next year. In fact, early mock drafts have the Raiders taking a quarterback early in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, which is just nonsense at this point.

The Sporting News had the Raiders picking at No. 1 overall, meaning they would be the worst team in football in 2019, and taking Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa. The Draft Network also dropped a 2020 mock draft, and in it, the Raiders take Tagovailoa with the No. 3 overall pick.

Even in drafts where Tagovailoa is off the board by the time the Raiders pick, they still have the team taking a quarterback, like a recent one from Bleacher Report, where they take Justin Herbert from Oregon.

This narrative apparently is not going away any time soon, and with a quarterback class stronger than the one in 2019, all of the Carr haters will be out in full force. My personal feeling is that Carr is going to go off in 2019, his second year in Jon Gruden’s offense, and hopefully that will put all of this talk to rest.

The bottom line is, Carr is a franchise quarterback, and Gruden has done nothing but back him since taking over as the team’s head coach. All of this noise will go away if Carr has a stellar 2019 season, and maybe then these draft experts can finally start seeing the light when it comes to the Raiders quarterback situation.