The biggest move of the unofficial start of free agency so is the Las Vegas Raiders signing San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to replace Derek Carr. The Raiders getting their starting quarterback throws off NFL draft pundits and mock drafts everywhere.
Most experts have four quarterbacks in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft. Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Alabama’s Bryce Young, Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Kentucky’s Will Levis are head and shoulders ahead of the next tier of quarterbacks in this draft and until the Raiders signed Garoppolo, they were penciled in to draft the fourth one.
If the Raiders pass on a quarterback, how far will the fourth quarterback fall? We will continue to call them the fourth quarterback because there’s no consensus as to what order these four prospects will be drafted. My money on Levis being the odd man out and his draft status is suddenly thrust into limbo.
Las Vegas passing on a quarterback will open up a whole can of worms for the half-dozen teams behind them. None of them need to draft a quarterback in the first round so those elite prospects on the board at other positions like Illinois cornerback Devin Witherspoon, Texas Tech edge Tyree Wilson or TCU wide receiver Quentin Johnson might be players other teams are ready to pay to go up and get.
If that fourth quarterback falls to the middle of the round in the range of picks 15-18, that is when you will see a team trade way up to get them. Theoretically, the Raiders could move down twice, parlay that first pick into several and still land a player who can help them now.
