Las Vegas Raiders free agency primer: Quarterbacks

The Las Vegas Raiders have a ton of decisions to make in terms of free agency, and in this series, we take a look at the quarterbacks whose contracts have expired.

During the 2019 NFL season, much like the previous seasons since Derek Carr was drafted back in 2014, it was basically a one-man show under center. Carr started all 16 games for the Silver and Black, setting career-highs in yardage and completion percentage to name a few, and relegated his backups to the bench for nearly the entire season.

Sure, Mike Glennon got some time, but overall, the Raiders rolled with Carr, and he put up a nice season statistically. Heading into 2020, the team is likely to bring in a backup quarterback who can actually challenge Carr, as the men who backed him up this past season just basically held a roster spot in case of an emergency.

Jon Gruden loves his quarterbacks, so you know he is going to take a long look at everyone who is available this offseason. While Carr is a very solid NFL quarterback, he has not been really challenged since winning the job as a rookie, but that is likely to change this offseason.

Here is what the current Raiders free agent quarterback situation looks like.

Expiring Contracts

• Mike Glennon
• Nathan Peterman

Both Glennon and Nathan Peterman have expiring contracts, which means DeShone Kizer is the only quarterback returning behind Carr in 2020. Glennon came to the Raiders in March of 2019, while Peterman was signed to a futures contract in January of that same year, and had a strong preseason, but his year ended on injured reserve due to an elbow injury in early September.

Who stays

In terms of these two guys, I could see Jon Gruden bring Peterman back as a project, but in no way are either of these quarterbacks going to challenge Carr for the starting role. Glennon will likely latch on somewhere else, as he is a solid backup, and has starting experience in the league, and we still do not know what we have in Peterman.

Las Vegas will likely keep Kizer around, as he is a former first round pick and has the arm talent to be a solid quarterback in this league. However, if the Raiders add a quarterback from elsewhere this offseason, it will likely be Kizer, and not Peterman who Gruden keeps around as a project arm.

If I was a betting man, I would say that the Raiders are going to make changes behind Carr on this depth chart in 2020, whether it is bringing in someone via the 2020 NFL Draft, or adding a veteran via free agency. There is a lot of talent to choose from this offseason, but one thing is for sure, they have to add someone to that quarterback room that will actually challenge Carr for the job this offseason.