Last season, rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell took over as the starting quarterback of the Las Vegas Raiders after the team benched veteran Jimmy Garoppolo after parting ways with head coach Josh McDaniels. But it sure sounds like the team is planning to bring in a new quarterback as soon as possible.
During a recent interview, new Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce made it clear that the team is bringing in a new quarterback, and they want a long-term solution, not a “Band-Aid” to mask the problem.
“I would hope whoever we draft, that’s the route we go, that’s who the starter becomes,” Pierce said this week in Indianapolis according to Vic Tafur of The Athletic. “You don’t want to put a Band-Aid at that position. That’s old . . . that’s old, man. I think the Raiders . . . we’ve seen that enough in this organization.”
It sounds like the team is planning to select a quarterback in the upcoming draft, and Pierce opened up about the kind of quarterback that the team is looking for – especially considering they will have to compete against Patrick Mahomes in the division for the next few years.
“You want the face of your franchise to be the quarterback, to be that guy you can count on for the next 10 years,” Pierce said.“I want to go with a proven winner. And somebody that knows what it’s like to grind and go through some adversity.
“You want guys with a bunch of starts underneath their belts — you don’t want a one-hit wonder You don’t want a guy who had one year of success and say that’s the guy. You want someone who has been battle-tested that has been through adversity, had challenges and wasn’t just handed the keys. Because that’s going to be the process here no matter what we do.”
So it’s pretty clear that the team will be bringing in a new quarterback – it’s just a matter of who that quarterback is.
The Raiders currently hold the No. 13 pick in the NFL Draft. We’ll have to see who they select and whether or not it’s a quarterback.
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