Late Friday night, after the Las Vegas Raiders shook up the quarterback market by acquiring Geno Smith from the Seattle Seahawks, a high-ranking AFC executive was mentally scrolling through potential landing spots for Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders when he delivered a note of caution.
“I wouldn’t cross the Raiders off yet,” he said. “Let’s see what happens between now and [the draft].”
This is a lesson that was learned across the NFL last season. The Atlanta Falcons signed Kirk Cousins to a massive deal in free agency, leading virtually everyone inside the league to remove them from the 2024 draft’s quarterback matrix.