The Raiders currently hold the No. 7 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, setting them up to possibly take a QB. Of Las Vegas’ Top 30 visits, six have been with quarterbacks — Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Florida’s Anthony Richardson, Kentucky’s Will Levis, Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker, and Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell.
And if by the end of Day 3 a quarterback does end up with the Silver and Black, he could have the opportunity to usurp Garoppolo from his current standing, as Ziegler said the Raiders were open to a camp battle.
“I think we’re open to having competition at the quarterback position and every other position on the roster,” Ziegler said. “We’re never going to close the door on that.”
But even if the Raiders end up following through with the plan to start Garoppolo Week 1, there’s always a benefit to having a young signal-caller waiting in the wings in the case of injury or other unforeseen circumstances, something Ziegler recognized.
“I think it goes back just to the value of the position. Doing your due diligence on all of those guys is important, too,” Ziegler said. “The value at that position and having a young guy that can come in and play and contribute; we’ve seen where those contracts have gone on quarterbacks, too. So there’s obviously an advantage of having someone on a rookie, a quarterback on a rookie contract, in terms of roster construction and those types of things. And so, like I mentioned at the beginning, I think just closing that door is irresponsible to do that.”