How will the Raiders address their quarterback vacancy this offseason?

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, Jan. 6, 2023 | 2 a.m.

For the first time in nearly a decade, Raiders’ fans will go into the offseason with no clarity on who will be playing quarterback for their team next year.

Las Vegas has given every indication it plans to move on from Derek Carr after benching the nine-year veteran last week. Carr is expected to be traded in the offseason with coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler instead building the team around “their guy” in their second season at the forefront of the team.

But who will that be? The list of potential candidates is lengthy and includes Jarrett Stidham, who will start a second straight game in place of Carr in the season finale at 1:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon against the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium.

But Stidham is a free agent himself after this season and not guaranteed to return to the Raiders. Options are plentiful for the Raiders, so let’s dive into several of them by ranking the most likely routes they’ll use to find their next quarterback.

1. Free Agency

The Raiders are virtually guaranteed to have somewhere between the sixth and ninth pick in April’s NFL Draft, which would traditionally signal a team in their position taking a quarterback. But this situation feels a bit different for several reasons, and among the biggest factors are the quarterbacks set to be available.

Two of the top three passers, and three of the top nine, hitting free agency by Sportrac’s estimated market value metric have history with McDaniels and Ziegler. Tom Brady (No. 2), Jimmy Garoppolo (No. 3) and Jacoby Brissett (No. 9) could all be options after spending time alongside the power duo with the New England Patriots.

The jobs of McDaniels and Ziegler are on the line next season after a disappointing first year in Las Vegas, and they likely would prefer someone familiar with the former’s offensive system in such a crucial campaign. Carr and McDaniels never appeared fully comfortable with each other, a disconnect that can’t carry into the next year.

Brady is the most speculated option, but he’ll be turning 46 years old before next season and bringing him in seemingly goes against everything McDaniels has preached about building something sustainable with the Raiders. Raiders owner Mark Davis reportedly was interested Brady before the seven-time Super Bowl champion signed with the Buccaneers in 2020, however, and may not want to pass on him again.

The 31-year-old Garoppolo would be a more natural age fit alongside the rest of the Raiders’ core but he’s arguably not much of an upgrade, if one at all, over Carr. Brissett would be a definitive step down, but he’d be a cheaper alternative that allows the Raiders to further upgrade the roster elsewhere.

Brissett, or even potentially Garoppolo, could be brought in to compete for the starting job with another player falling in one of the sections below.

2. NFL Draft

If the Raiders love any of the four consensus first-round quarterbacks — Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Kentucky’s Will Levis and Florida’s Anthony Richardson — then they should do everything they can to select him.

There’s no bigger advantage short-term in the NFL than having a good quarterback on a rookie contract, and there’s no more sustainable edge long-term than having a great player at the sport’s most important position. Young might be the only quarterback truly out of reach for the Raiders, at least if mock drafts are to be trusted where he’s widely slotted as the overall No. 1 pick to the Houston Texans.

Stroud had been slipping toward the range where the Raiders will pick all year, but a monster Peach Bowl performance in a loss to Georgia now has his stock soaring. If McDaniels and Ziegler believe in Stroud — and he arguably fits the prototype of their preferred quarterbacks from the past — then trading up a few spots to get him should be explored.

It’s also conceivable Stroud could overtake Young as the consensus top prospect as scouting intensifies through events like the combine in the coming months and the latter becomes a trade-up target. Levis and Richardson are considered projects, but McDaniels has a reputation for believing he can mold quarterbacks into his image on the field.

If the Raiders pick either one of them in the end, prepare for endless comparisons to how McDaniels handled his first stint as an NFL head coach. He traded away Jay Cutler in 2009 with the Denver Broncos before taking Tim Tebow in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft.

3. Internally

This might have ranked as the least likely option a week ago, but Stidham deserves some credit for a sterling debut that included 360 passing yards and three touchdowns. If he plays well again Saturday against the Chiefs, the Raiders may have to seriously consider resigning the former fourth-round pick and giving him a real opportunity at the starting gig.

The 26-year-old former Patriot checks one major box in being on the same page with McDaniels as the coach is the only playcaller Stidham has ever played under professionally. The experience in the scheme certainly showed as Stidham carved up the 49ers’ top-ranked defense.

But McDaniels has had four years to evaluate Stidham and never pushed for him to start despite having mostly unstable quarterback situations. He’s only finishing the year because things went south with Carr and the franchise didn’t want to be locked into a $40 million guarantee if the longtime starter got injured.

McDaniels did initially sell the move as a way to see what Stidham could do on game day, but he slightly walked that back after the overtime loss to the 49ers. Asked if Stidham improved his chances of factoring into the long-term decision, McDaniels said, “It’s probably too early to have those discussions.”

Stidham has asserted himself in the mix, but for now he still projects more as a backup or option 1B in a competition going into next season.

4. Trade

Las Vegas will most likely be looking to deal Carr for draft picks, but there’s a chance they could also get a quarterback as part of its return package. Many of the teams that may have interest in the veteran also have passers they could be looking to move on from including the New York Jets, Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots.

Could McDaniels view former Jets No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson as one of his aforementioned projects? Does McDaniels have an affinity for longtime Titans starter Ryan Tannehill? Is he interested in reuniting with Patriots quarterback Mac Jones?

All of these scenarios are extreme long shots, hence why trade ranks last in the rankings but not totally out of the realm of possibility. The most attractive and somewhat realistic trade option a month ago might have been four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers, but the 39-year-old has since helped turn the Packers’ season around.

He’s presumably not in a hurry to get out of Green Bay, but he has asked for a trade before and included Las Vegas on a list of preferred destinations.

Quarterback movement reached unprecedented levels in the NFL last offseason, and though this year currently forecasts as slightly calmer, no one ever really knows for sure. It might ultimately come down to how the Raiders act in an unfamiliar spot without stability at the position, and how that affects all the resulting dominoes.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or