The Las Vegas Raiders are exactly three weeks away from taking to the podium to make their first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
It’s a potential franchise-altering decision for new head coach Antonio Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco. They are being called on to turn things around in Sin City after two less-than-fruitful seasons.
For a Raiders team that fired Josh McDaniels after less than two seasons as its head coach, what they do at 13 could define the organization for years to come. After all, the Raiders have posted two winning seasons since all the way back in 2002.
Obviously, the primary focus here is going to be on the all-important quarterback position. Vegas moved on from Jimmy Garoppolo after an epic fail of a one year experiment. It signed veteran journeyman Gardner Minshew to potentially compete with 2023 mid-round pick Aidan O’Connell under center.
But will the Raiders look to add a franchise quarterback to the mix in a draft that is seen as deep at this position? They have been linked to a few names. We can now add another.
Related: What Tom Telesco’s history tells us about Las Vegas Raiders draft plans
Las Vegas Raiders set to meet with Bo Nix ahead of NFL Draft
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reports that Nix will visit with the Raiders in Vegas on Friday. They are also meeting with Washington product and fellow quarterback Michael Penix Jr. on Thursday.
The Raiders have been linked to trade-up scenarios for the likes of Jayden Daniels (LSU) and J.J. McCarthy (Michigan). This latest information seems to suggest that standing pat at 13 or trading down in the first round could be in the cards.
Sportsnaut’s latest NFL mock draft has four quarterbacks off the board within the first five picks. That includes the Raiders trading up to No. 3 for the aforementioned Daniels. Both Nix and Penix Jr. are projected to fall out of the first round in the latest iteration.
It’s certainly going to be interesting to see what the new power duo in Sin City do. It seems that they are playing everything close to the vest at this point.