Even after trading for Geno Smith, the Las Vegas Raiders may come out of the 2025 NFL Draft with a quarterback they can cultivate as their potential future starter. The contract extension Smith ultimately got keeps that door open.
Coming out of the NFL Combine, Tashan Reed of The Athletic reported the Raiders were particularly impressed with Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe "after going over Xs and Os and film." The interest in Ewers took the natural next step, with the Raiders having a visit with him before his Pro Day. Ewers also had a top-30 visit with the Raiders, as previously reported and easily expected.
Quinn Ewers did not hide his affinity for Raiders' head coach Pete Carroll
On Friday's edition of "The Rich Eisen Show", fill-in host Tom Pelissero asked Ewers if he has envisioned playing for the Raiders and head coach Pete Carroll.
"Coach Carroll would be awesome," Ewers said. "He's always talking about 'compete, compete, compete.' I think he says that word 100 times a day. I think it would be super cool to be part of a franchise that they live or die by how they compete. It doesn't matter what you are doing, if you are in the building, he said you are either competing or not. I think that's how I already live and it definitely would be cool."
Pelissero then dropped a bit of insight, which he was quick to caveat as his opinion.
“Quinn Ewers’ [visiting] Vegas, that Pete Carroll meeting, I would just say file that one away,” Pelissero said. “I don’t know. The Saints certainly are a possibility there. Write it down and don’t check the odds on it because I can’t give gambling advice. I'm just saying, Quinn Ewers, Raiders, to me, would make a ton of sense."
Check out the full Raiders' related portion of Ewers' interview with Pelissero:
The Raiders are very likely to draft a quarterback, it just won't be with the sixth overall pick or possibly even in the second round at pick No. 37. The third round (pick No. 68) or the fourth round (pick No. 108) feels like the bullseye there, and that lines up with where Ewers is likely to come off the board.
The Raiders have shown a lot of interest in Ewers during the pre-draft process, and his noting of the influence and significance Carroll was hired to have shows the feeling is very mutual.