Now that the Raiders are done playing football, the fun can begin.
It figures to be a big offseason in Las Vegas, which is probably putting it lightly. The Raiders are officially in the market for a new head coach after firing Antonio Pierce on Tuesday afternoon, and any person even remotely connected to the team has hinted that they'll be looking for a franchise QB in this year's draft.
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Drafting a QB would, obviously, leave the Raiders in an interesting position. You may remember from literally every single miserable moment of football this season that the Raiders already have two QBs: Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell. I doubt either of them want to be a practice squad QB next year, meaning something's gotta give when Cam Ward/Shedeur Sanders joins. Fortunately, ESPN's Ben Solak has an answer that will, genuinely, thrill Raiders fans. The vibes are already great today.
ESPN's Ben Solak predicts Raiders trade Gardner Minshew before the NFL Draft
"The Raiders will almost certainly have another camp quarterback battle next offseason, but between whom? I predict they'll trade Gardner Minshew to a team that needs a veteran, opening the competition between Aidan O'Connell and a rookie early draft pick, either Sanders or Ward. It's a bad quarterback class, but the Raiders are so desperate I could see them trading up to be the team that takes the first passer off the board"
Honestly, good. Giving Minshew the second biggest QB contract of year last offseason was such a bizarre move, so of course the GM that made that decision found a way to keep his job. It's not like either of them have a real future as some team's franchise QB, but whatever trade value exists in the Raiders' QB room is because of Minshew. There's some 7-win team out there desperate enough to still believe in him, and not just because they'll have failed to trade for Kirk Cousins first.
I'm all aboard the Trade Gardner Minshew bandwagon. I wasn't even sure it was a thing until this morning, but I trust Solak. And surely Tom Telesco won't screw this up, so it seems like a pretty clear win-win to me.