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https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...-whether-they-considered-trading-up-in-draft/
Jon Gruden reveals how Raiders felt about Kyler Murray, whether they considered trading up in draft
The Oakland Raiders were one of the big stories of the 2019 NFL Draft, an impressive feat considering Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden didn't even need to draft a quarterback to get any buzz. Having three first-round picks helps. Plus, there was always the thought they might try to nab Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray in some kind of bold trade up.
Such a deal never materialized -- and the Arizona Cardinals would take Murray with the top pick overall anyway -- and it was never going to materialize according to Jon Gruden. There was chatter about Murray slipping down the board, but even then it doesn't sound like the Raiders were interested in the Heisman Trophy winner.
The Raiders coach spoke to Peter King of NBC Sports during the draft weekend (King ran the interview in Memorial Day's FMIA column) and opened up about Murray.
"We all loved Murray. That doesn't mean we were gonna take him. How do you not love his performance, his playing style, what he accomplished? I had a blast with him [during a pre-draft workout]," Gruden said. "We didn't think about going up to number one. We did look at [Nick] Bosa, [Quinnen] Williams, but not going to one. We did our homework on the quarterbacks. You gotta know who's coming into the league at that position. There was a lot of speculation that we were gonna take a quarterback.
"I kept watching a guy on NFL Network saying we're going up to get Murray. Then he says we're going up to get [Dwayne] Haskins. Then he says we're going up to get [Drew] Lock. We're trading [Derek] Carr. I don't understand it."
Color me guilty among those who believed Gruden might get a little loose in the first round and do what he needed to acquire a young quarterback.
At the end of the day, they passed on those guys multiple times. Murray wasn't there, but you have to believe they could have gotten him if they wanted. Haskins was never in play for them at No. 4. They passed on Lock four times, making multiple selections before the Broncos took the Missouri quarterback.
I still don't believe the Raiders are all in on Carr, but I do think their bet on him this year makes sense. They surrounded him with lots of weapons, including Antonio Brown (trade), Tyrell Williams (free agency) and Josh Jacobs (draft). If Carr is good, they'll win games and Gruden will be justified in his offensive spending spree.
If Carr struggles, his contract is easy to get out of after 2019, with the Raiders battling just $5 million in dead money in 2020. They would create more than $16 million in cap space by cutting Carr after this season. And there's also the option of keeping Carr on his relatively small deal -- he averages just over $21 million per year over the next three years -- drafting a quarterback and letting him develop behind Carr as the team moves to Las Vegas.
Gruden not taking a quarterback in the next two drafts would be borderline shocking. But he didn't feel he needed to do it this draft, and certainly didn't feel he needed to pressure Carr by making a huge move up to grab Murray.
As much as we all wanted some blockbuster, old-school Raiders trade up for the top quarterback, it apparently was not a thing that was likely to happen.
Jon Gruden reveals how Raiders felt about Kyler Murray, whether they considered trading up in draft
The Oakland Raiders were one of the big stories of the 2019 NFL Draft, an impressive feat considering Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden didn't even need to draft a quarterback to get any buzz. Having three first-round picks helps. Plus, there was always the thought they might try to nab Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray in some kind of bold trade up.
Such a deal never materialized -- and the Arizona Cardinals would take Murray with the top pick overall anyway -- and it was never going to materialize according to Jon Gruden. There was chatter about Murray slipping down the board, but even then it doesn't sound like the Raiders were interested in the Heisman Trophy winner.
The Raiders coach spoke to Peter King of NBC Sports during the draft weekend (King ran the interview in Memorial Day's FMIA column) and opened up about Murray.
"We all loved Murray. That doesn't mean we were gonna take him. How do you not love his performance, his playing style, what he accomplished? I had a blast with him [during a pre-draft workout]," Gruden said. "We didn't think about going up to number one. We did look at [Nick] Bosa, [Quinnen] Williams, but not going to one. We did our homework on the quarterbacks. You gotta know who's coming into the league at that position. There was a lot of speculation that we were gonna take a quarterback.
"I kept watching a guy on NFL Network saying we're going up to get Murray. Then he says we're going up to get [Dwayne] Haskins. Then he says we're going up to get [Drew] Lock. We're trading [Derek] Carr. I don't understand it."
Color me guilty among those who believed Gruden might get a little loose in the first round and do what he needed to acquire a young quarterback.
At the end of the day, they passed on those guys multiple times. Murray wasn't there, but you have to believe they could have gotten him if they wanted. Haskins was never in play for them at No. 4. They passed on Lock four times, making multiple selections before the Broncos took the Missouri quarterback.
I still don't believe the Raiders are all in on Carr, but I do think their bet on him this year makes sense. They surrounded him with lots of weapons, including Antonio Brown (trade), Tyrell Williams (free agency) and Josh Jacobs (draft). If Carr is good, they'll win games and Gruden will be justified in his offensive spending spree.
If Carr struggles, his contract is easy to get out of after 2019, with the Raiders battling just $5 million in dead money in 2020. They would create more than $16 million in cap space by cutting Carr after this season. And there's also the option of keeping Carr on his relatively small deal -- he averages just over $21 million per year over the next three years -- drafting a quarterback and letting him develop behind Carr as the team moves to Las Vegas.
Gruden not taking a quarterback in the next two drafts would be borderline shocking. But he didn't feel he needed to do it this draft, and certainly didn't feel he needed to pressure Carr by making a huge move up to grab Murray.
As much as we all wanted some blockbuster, old-school Raiders trade up for the top quarterback, it apparently was not a thing that was likely to happen.
