There are a few QBs Gruden may fall in love with
Is this the year Raiders coach Jon Gruden drafts his quarterback of the future?
History suggests otherwise, but longtime ESPN draft Mel Kiper Jr. thinks this could be the year.
Kiper has the Raider using their second of two first-round picks, No 19 overall, on Utah State quarterback Jordan Love.
“Just a hunch,” Kiper said Wednesday in a national conference call. “I’ve been around Jon a lot, and I know he always talks about young quarterbacks. Everybody’s got mixed reviews on if he’s going to go that way. Some think he’s going to take one, some think he won’t because he likes the veterans.”
Love’s numbers dropped precipitously as a senior with a new coaching staff and a depleted corps of receivers. But he’s got mobility and a big arm. Given the copycat nature of the NFL, it doesn’t hurt that Love is probably the closest thing to transcendent Chiefs Super Bowl champion quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the draft.
“I don’t know how he feels about Jordan Love,” Kiper said. “Jordan Love can spin it, though. (Jon) has two first-round picks. You can address another need area (at No. 12) and then use that pick (No. 19) to be the guy who takes over for Carr down the
road if Carr has plateaued.”
Having Carr and Marcus Mariota aboard gives the Raiders time to allow Love to develop.
“If Carr turns out to be great, then great,” Kiper said. “If Mariota steps in like Tannehill did for him last year, great. But if they don’t, then in two or three years you’ve got Jordan Love, who could emerge. If not, you go back to the drawing board and you try again.”
At the NFL scouting combine, Love seemed open to the idea of being a Raider.
General manager Mike Mayock sounded as if he had some reservations.
“He throws a lot of interceptions, and he is very raw in terms of what he is getting from the sideline,” Mayock said at the combine. “He is reading off his wrist guard. So, like a lot of college players, he has a long way to go. And you have to factor that into what his ultimate value is.”
Here’s a closer look heading in to the draft, which runs Thursday through Saturday:
THE BIG THREE » Joe Burrow (LSU), Tua Tagovaiola (Alabama), Justin Herbert (Oregon). Burrow (6-3, 221) is the consensus No. 1 after the best single season of any quarterback in college football history. Tagovaiola (6-0, 217) has been described as a left-handed Drew Brees but college career included serious hip injury and a broken wrist. Herbert’s (6-6, 236) arm strength and mobility are the best of the three but decision-making and fluidity of play is a concern. SECOND WAVE » Jordan Love, Utah State. Comparisons to Mahomes may be a stretch, but there is little doubt Love (6-4, 224) has all the tools necessary to be an NFL starter although probably not immediately. Others include
Jacob Eason (Washington), Jake Fromm (Georgia), Jalen Hurts (Oklahoma), James Morgan (Florida International). Mayock was at Hurts’ Pro Day before workouts were cut off because of the coronavirus pandemic and could be a more likely target than Love should he fall to the third round.
KEEP AN EYE ON » Kevin Davidson (Princeton). A product of San Ramon Valley High in Danville, Peterson (6-4, 221) threw 20 touchdown passes with just six interceptions in his only season as a college starter. Mobility a concern, but has done enough to merit perhaps a seventh-round selection or a contract as an undrafted free agent.
ALREADY ON THE ROSTER » Derek Carr (projected starter), Marcus Mariota, Nathan Peterman, DeShone Kizer.
QUOTABLE » “Football is what I love to play. It’s fun. It’s my passion. All that stuff comes easy for me, and I never let a moment of football get bigger than what I’ve had to face in my actual life,” Utah State quarterback Jordan Love.