Raiders haven’t ruled out QB in 1st round of NFL draft

The Raiders seemingly bought themselves valuable time with the offseason addition of veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

But his presence will not deter them from taking a quarterback in next week’s draft. Perhaps as high as the seventh pick overall, which is where they currently stand.

“Having Jimmy does supply us with a very high-quality starting player at the position. And so, we feel comfortable with that,” said Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler. “But I think to close that door and say that’s not something you would do because of X, Y and Z. That’s not the business we’re in.”

Yes, the Raiders have a defense to build. And to be sure, they need help along the offensive line. So there is a case to be made they need to invest as many of their 12 picks as possible to fill all the various holes on their roster. Including their highest pick, which could yield an impact defensive player.

But the NFL is and always will be a quarterback-driven league. And Ziegler is well aware of that.

“Any time you can find a young player at that position that’s going to have an impact on your team, you have to keep an open mind to that,” Ziegler said.

That includes the possibility of trading up in the first round to grab their preferred target. The Raiders made a run at the trading for top pick overall but ultimately lost out when the Bears sent that pick to the Panthers.

With the Texans sending signals that they might not be enamored with a quarterback with the second pick overall, and the Cardinals, who have the third pick, already having their long-term quarterback in Kyler Murray, the Raiders could revisit a trade-up scenario with either of those teams.

At the very least, they remain open to the possibility.

“We haven’t ruled anything out in that regard,” Ziegler said. “And we won’t.”

The Panthers have not made it known which of the top quarterbacks they prefer at the top of the draft. But among Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Kentucky’s Will Levis, the momentum seems to be shifting to Young as the first pick overall.

If the Texans and Cardinals hold onto their picks, it increases the likelihood that one or two of the top quarterback prospects will slide to the Raiders.

In recognition of that possibility, the Raiders were as active as any team in the NFL in evaluating quarterbacks. Ziegler and Raiders coach Josh McDaniels visited with all four of the top prospects at their Pro Days and followed up with individual visits at their facility in Henderson.

“At the beginning of this process, you could say, hey, you don’t know how it’s going to fall but there’s four to six guys that we’re going to do work on that could fall to us, or be there at number seven,” Ziegler said. “And so we did our due diligence because of that.”

Garoppolo is under contract for three seasons, but the deal was written in a way that creates flexibility to move on from him as early as next offseason. Doing so will require a young quarterback capable of replacing him, though.

The value in that is two-fold. Obviously, the Raiders want to secure their quarterback of the future as soon as possible. But just as important is the salary cap relief provided by a talented young quarterback.

The Bengals and Eagles are two prime examples after building Super Bowl-caliber rosters around inexpensive quarterbacks Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts. That won’t be the case much longer in the Bengals’ case, and Hurts has already signed a lucrative long-term deal with the Eagles.

That steepens each team’s challenge to maintain around their star quarterbacks. But there is no question they both maximized the early contract years of Burrow and Hurts with multiple trips to the playoffs and Super Bowl appearances.

The Raiders would welcome a chance to build around their own young, cost-effective quarterback.

“We’ve seen where the contracts have gone on quarterbacks,” Ziegler said. “So there’s obviously an advantage of having a quarterback on a rookie contract in terms of roster construction.”

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.