Why the Raiders will never draft a star quarterback in the first round

Decades before the internet, email, or cellular phones, information would reach the Raiders owner, and de facto general manager, Al Davis from across the world via a network of "scouts" who Davis had either installed, groomed, or manipulated over a lifetime spent canvassing the couch cushions to find hidden talent.

One of his favorite quirks was to divulge information in conversations that he had no business knowing. Front office executives would get off a phone call with Davis part bemused, part furious that he knew details from inside their own buildings.

Davis treated scouting like spycraft; another pocket-sized war that he wasn't determined to just win. He wanted to dominate.

Davis himself was a scout once, with an eye for signing players that helped save both a struggling franchise in Oakland and an upstart league called the American Football League in the 1960s.

"Al didn't care what your color was, what your drinking habits were, probably didn't care about your sexuality. Didn't care about any of that shit . . . All that mattered was what you did on Sunday," said former Raider tight end Bob Moore (1971-1975).

"Remember, this was a football team where guys could show up Thursday at practice drunk and still play on Sunday. As long as you were sober on Sunday, that's all they cared about."

With the sixth pick in the 2025 draft the Raiders selected Ashton Jeanty, the prolific running back from Boise State. When the prized rookie takes his first handoff in the NFL the man handing him the ball will be starting for his fifth team in his twelfth season.

The number of games that Geno Smith starts for the Las Vegas Raiders is unknown. He’ll turn 35 in October and, while quarterbacks are playing longer than ever, Smith is nearer to the end of his career than the start of it.

Not that the Raiders mind.

That's the Raider way! Head coach Pete Carroll has downplayed the amount of tread left on Geno Smith's tires.

“It’s worth mentioning the guy sat for about six years. And in that time, No. 1, he didn’t get the wear and the tear, so that’s why he moves so well and he runs really well, still." said Carroll about his new (and old) quarterback Smith.

And if you put lemon juice and vacuum seal shrink wrap on an avocado it won’t turn brown!

Even though the franchise is steeped in decades of history with championships and Hall of Fame players to prove it, they have never been any good in the business of drafting and developing young quarterbacks.

In other words, the Raiders still need to identify their quarterback of the future, but will they?

“From a team-building standpoint, I don’t think it changes our approach at all,” new general manager John Spytek said earlier this month. “We’re deep into the evaluation of the quarterbacks in this class, and we’re going to stay in that . . .We could take one anywhere.”

The thinking is that septuagenarian head coach doesn't have time to wait for a rookie quarterback to develop. He needs to win now. Which might have been believable 20 years ago when guys like Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, Kurt Warner, Drew Brees, Steve McNair and Tom Brady watched whole seasons from the bench as they learned the complexities of professional football.

But the athletes coming out of college today are already running pro offenses and, once drafted, suited to playing from Day 1. As rookies Patrick Mahomes wore a baseball hat and held the tablet for 15 games before starting in a meaningless season finale. Lamar Jackson watched 9 games from the sideline; Tua Tagovailoa waited 7; Josh Allen waited 5; Justin Herbert watched one game from the sidelines as a rookie before the organization took conspicuous measures to make sure that they got him onto the field as quickly as possible.

A quarterback prospects today does not need seasoning. They play right away and sometimes hit the ground running so fast that their franchise's fortunes are flipped from drafting in the top five to a game away from the Super Bowl.

So I don't buy the "Pete is too old to start a rookie QB" argument.

Think about it. The Raiders have had more success drafting kickers in the first round than they have drafting signal callers. Can you name the last star quarterback drafted by the Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland-Las Vegas Raiders? Let's look at all the quarterbacks Al Davis selected in the first round.

“He is going to be a great passer,” said legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi. “He has more moves than a clock."

Picked in 1962 out of NC State, Roman Gabriel (1962 AFL Draft pick 1), a two-time All American was also selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the NFL draft.

The Raiders were coming off of a 2-12 season without any hope. Routed in most of their games the Raiders gave up 33 points per, leading to a point differential of (-221); The 12th worst in the history of pro football before seasons were expanded to 16 games.

So, naturally, Gabriel chose to play for the Rams rather than the silver and black who were not even wearing silver and black yet. Ironically the Raiders tried to sign Gabriel again in 1966, but after assurances from new Rams coach George Allen he reversed his decision.

In his efforts to induce Gabriel to sign with Oakland Al Davis had sent Gabriel a lucrative check for $100,000 as part of four year deal astronomical for the times.

"At the time, I was making $22,500," said Gabriel. "And the Raiders offered me a package of $400,000 and gave me a check for $100,000. But hell, I'd never had $100,000, so I put it in my billfold and walked around with it for months."

Allen told him to send the Raiders check back to them.

Can you imagine Al Davis opening that letter?

Gabriel began his career playing sporadically behind other quarterbacks but when George Allen took over as head coach of the Rams his opportunity finally arrived. In 1967, Gabriel guided the Rams to a 17-1-1 record. In 1969, he won the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award. Gabriel's 154 touchdown passes remains a Rams record.

The Oakland Raiders made history on January 30, 1968 when they selected quarterback, Eldridge Dickey (1968 NFL Draft pick 25) in the AFL/NFL draft. Making him the first black quarterback to be taken in the first round of any draft.

Eldridge Dickey’s college career at Tennessee State University spanned from 1964-1967. He was a three-time HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) All-American. In 1966, Dickey led the school to its first undefeated National Black College Football Championship.

Dickey was a bold choice; Dickey was also a footnote. The Raiders found a champion quarterback in the same draft whose accomplishments in the next decade made Dickey an afterthought.

Mark Wilson, drafted in the1980 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders (15th overall), was expected to be a franchise quarterback coming out of BYU, which at the time was a rare school known for producing prolific passers. But his NFL career, particularly with the Raiders, was underwhelming at best.

Wilson showed flashes of talent, but he was never consistent. His career completion percentage was 52%, and he threw more interceptions (102) than touchdowns (86) despite being bolstered by one of the best rosters in football.

Though marred by injuries and 32-years-old when his replacement was drafted, Jim Plunkett led the Raiders to two Super Bowl titles during Wilson’s tenure and never publiclyrevealed that he felt threatened by the high draft pick.

Speaking of threatened, in an ironic repeat of history a rival owner from an upstart league tried to lure the second-string Wilson with the promise of a huge payday. As a well documented grudge-holder—perhaps still stinging from his failed attempt to recruit Roman Gabriel—Al Davis did not flinch. Even though he couldn't guarantee Wilson playing time, he capitulated and gave him a raise to keep him from joining the USFL.

Who was the publicity-crazed owner that Davis opened his wallet to outspend? A huckster real estate developer from New York named Donald Trump. You might have heard of him.

As a Mormon uprooted from Provo, Utah to Oakland, and eventually Los Angeles, Wilson felt like a fish out of water in the Raiders locker room; still proudly populated with rebels, rogues, and scallywags. Not that binge-drinking or managing hangovers is the path to winning over a locker room, but for this era of Raiders football, they certainly didn't hurt your cause. (That comes about ten years later though, so read on.)

If you told scouts that USC quarterback Todd Marinovich (1991 NFL Draft pick 24) would have more mug shots taken in Orange County (9) than career touchdown passes (8) on the eve of the draft then he would have never come off the board. Al Davis might deserve an asterisk for falling for the legend.

As the legend goes, Todd’s mother Trudi used no salt, sugar, alcohol, or tobacco for the entire pregnancy term. The boy—born literally on the 4th of July (1969)—ate only fresh vegetables, fruits, and raw milk; though there is no published record of his vaccination history, you can't help but wonder.

His father Marv, a former USC football star, would not allow junk food so Trudi sent Todd off to sleepovers and birthday parties with carrot sticks and Tiger bars. Trudi and Todd would admit later that this was one of the first lies in a tapestry of them that the family was weaving; turns out that Todd did know what McDonalds tasted like. Gasp.

Marv's test tube child was groomed by a series of experts: Tom House, an innovative pitching coach with the Texas Rangers’ who famously helped Tom Brady and Drew Brees  play into their forties, remade Todd’s throwing motion, reported to be 4 inches too low. As a teen Todd wore prism glasses at the suggestion of a vision specialist, could stand on a balance beam in a dark room and ran weighted sprints up hills. In one of the training exercises the family would detail for reporters Todd would bounce a ball while reciting multiplication tables as though the Jedi Academy were his fallback school if he didn't get into a power conference.

By the time he was 16, Todd was already a national story and one of the most coveted collegiate prospects in America. When Sports Illustrated devotes six pages to your college decision-making process, you can imagine how you might get a big head.

At USC Todd would clash with head coach Larry Smith philosophically over the offense and play calling. And there were rumors. The myth had begun showing cracks long before Todd's first arrest; which capped a tumultuous sophomore year that mingled comeback wins and jaw-dropping touchdown passes with suspensions amidst talk that he was skipping classes, majoring in off-campus partying, or just preparing to leave USC for the NFL draft.

When asked by his mom why the student section would taunt him by chanting "MARIJUANA-VICH!" as he shot free throws in a high school basketball game, he played dumb. Which is what Al Davis undoubtedly did when scouts delivered rumors of Todd's off-field interests.

Davis selected Marinovich with the 24th pick in the 1991 NFL draft—nine slots ahead of a guy named Brett Favre was selected by the Atlanta Falcons.

Looking back on it today the eugenics, lab-raised, single-minded, competitive child athlete backstory feels like a ticking time bomb from a sports documentary . . . Oh. Right.

It is hard to know where the mythology ends and where the problems began, but if your childhood memories are cribbed from the chapter in "Kill Bill Vol. 2" titled The Cruel Tutelage of Pai Mei, then you too might have started looking for coping techniques.

Whether it was to cope with the immense pressure placed on him since birth, a crutch to deal with social anxiety, or simply the easiest way to glide through his military-like athletic regiment, the RoboQB was already barreling down the path of addiction.

For the record, Marinovich's TD-to-arrest ratio was much better in college. He threw 28 touchdowns at USC, and was only arrested once.

The Raiders have only picked number 1 overall once in team's history. The name that they ran to the podium will live forever in ignominy: JaMarcus Russell (2007 NFL Draft pick 1).

Not that Al Davis (77-years old and in failing health by then) had many options. The 2007 draft class is one of the most anemic in history; If you were looking for a quarterback that year then you still were looking twelve months later.

Three years and nearly $40 million in sunk costs later, when the Raiders released him the fans didn't call him by his name. Triumphant Raider fans lit up the boards and the phone lines to revel in the resolution as if they had won something.

These are some of the ones we can print. JaCarcass Russell. The Pillsbury Throw Boy. JaBustus. OffDaMarcus.

This is what Mel Kiper said about Russell in the lead-up to the draft.

"JaMarcus Russell is going to immediately energize that fanbase, that football team—on the practice field, in that locker room. Three years from now you could be looking at a guy that's certainly one of the elite top five quarterbacks in this league . . .You're talking about a 2-3 year period once he's under center. Look out because the skill level that he has is certainly John Elway-like."

Standing 6'-6" and weighing 256 pounds Russell was built like a tank. Atop of the tank was a cannon for an arm that could reportedly throw a football 60 yards from his knees. His Paul Bunyon-like feats never translated to the pros; the only notable development Russell did in his truncated career garnered around his waistline.

A contract holdout cost Russell his rookie training camp. He signed in time for the regular season; but like his diamond encrusted medallion that spelled "CHOSEN," the $61 million deal became another target on his back.

Whether or not claims that Russell actually tipped the scales at 300 pounds at one point, or took blank videos of an upcoming opponent home to study in a prank orchestrated by the coaching staff to see if he ever watched them, or slept during team meetings due to sleep apnea, doesn't really matter.

All that matters is that when he got on the field his play didn't do nearly enough to dispel the cultivated stigma of apathy, entitlement, and useless.

Well, the first round is over. If there is a quarterback in the Raiders future, then the search begins again tonight.