Trading for Geno Smith will not keep the Las Vegas Raiders from taking a quarterback in April's draft, and it feels very likely they will take one. Now a month away from the festivities in Green Bay, pre-draft visits are set to ramp up in-kind.
According to Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, the Raiders are among three teams who will visit with Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers on Monday ahead of the school's Pro Day on Tuesday. Breer added that the Raiders are one of the three teams (the Colts and Cowboys are the others) who have a top-30 visit scheduled with Ewers in early-April.
Ewers entered college as a highly-touted recruit. After one year at Ohio State, when he barely played, he headed back to his home state to play for the University of Texas. He didn't have the kind of senior season he surely envisioned having, as he played through injuries (oblique, high ankle sprain) and had Arch Manning lurking over his shoulder. But he did top 3,400 yards through the air, with 31 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, as he led the Longhorns to two College Football Playoff wins before they lost to the eventual national champion Buckeyes.
Raiders taking natural and automatic step in their Quinn Ewers pre-draft interest
The Raiders of course met with several quarterback prospects at the NFL Combine. Coming out of the event The Athletic reported Ewers was one of two they were particularly impressed with "after going over Xs and Os and film" (Alabama's Jalen Milroe was the other).
Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who will surely have a strong say in which quarterback the Raiders draft (assuming they do draft one), is a reported fan of Ewers. The college/spread roots of Kelly's offense look to be a nice fit for Ewers.
Ewers is projected as a Day 2 pick, and the Raiders have a pick in each round on that day (No. 68 overall; third round and No. 107 overall; fourth round). That's also a generally ideal area for them to draft a quarterback who can develop behind Smith for a year or two, so greater immediate needs can be addressed with earlier picks.
Top-30 visits don't always mean anything in terms of a player being drafted by a team. But if the Raiders were as impressed with Ewers in Indianapolis as they reportedly were, having him in their building for a pre-draft visit is a no-brainer.