The Las Vegas Raiders needed to make a move at quarterback this offseason, and reuniting Pete Carroll with Geno Smith was about as good as Raider Nation could have hoped for. No matter what fans think of Smith in a broad sense, he is an unequivocal upgrade for Las Vegas.
When Smith was signed by the Raiders, he had one year left on his current deal. So, upon his arrival in Las Vegas, he signed a two-year, $75 million contract that would keep him in the fold through 2027. Quarterbacks can still be effective at an advanced age like no other position.
That said, Smith will turn 35 in October, and he is not a long-term solution at the most important position on the field. Rookie sixth-round pick Cam Miller could assert himself as the Raiders' quarterback of the future, but a heftier draft capital investment should be on the big picture radar.
Raiders draft LaNorris Sellers as franchise quarterback in mock draft
Bleacher Report's draft scouts -- Brandon Thorn, Dame Parson, Matt Holder and Daniel Harms -- have come together for their first 2026 NFL mock draft. The Raiders were given the eighth overall pick, and they took South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers.
"South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers has the talent and physical tools to be the first quarterback drafted," Parson said. "He possesses outstanding arm strength/talent, with dynamic and powerful rushing ability. He has an extremely high ceiling due to his physical traits, and being able to sit and learn behind an established veteran like Smith would be great for the 20-year-old's maturation."
Sellers took over as the Gamecocks' starting quarterback in 2024 as a redshirt sophomore. He first put himself on the radar of NFL scouts with his 6-foot-3, 240-pound frame. His dual-threat ability is also impressive, running for 674 yards and seven touchdowns while completing 65.6% of his passes.
He draws easy comparisons to bigger running quarterbacks like Josh Allen, Cam Newton and Anthony Richardson. All three had work to do to become more refined passers when they got to the NFL, so the idea that Sellers will have work to do is not some massive red flag.
Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus did a nice breakdown of the good and bad with Sellers heading into the 2025 college season.
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The good includes being above the 50th percentile in height for quarterbacks in the NFL and above the 90th percentile in weight for the position. He also posted a 97.5 Pro Football Focus in-game athleticism score last season, with some very strong numbers as a runner.
Sellers also posted some promising numbers as a passer last year. He had an 86.4 PFF passing grade under pressure, with nine big-time throws and just four turnover-worthy plays. He also earned a solid PFF passing grade when throwing over the intermediate middle of the field, as well as a 72.6 mark when throwing on the run.
On the bad side, Sikkema noted Sellers' high average time to throw at 3.31 seconds, and, as a result, a high sack rate of 8.1% last season. Sikkema also noted that he "put the ball in harm’s way too much, often from misreading where a safety was or how a defense was rotating its coverages."
As could be expected for a raw talent in his first year as a college starter, Sikkema also noted how volatile Sellers was last year. PFF charted him with 18 big-time throws and 19 turnover-worthy plays.
It is unknown if investing a top-10 pick in Smith's potential successor would be intriguing to the new regime in Las Vegas, but the Raiders would be an ideal landing spot for Sellers as soon as next season. He could sit and learn the ropes, waiting until 2027 when a quarterback shift seems likely.