Before Jayden Daniels was the Heisman-winning quarterback at LSU, he was recruited to Arizona State. By Raiders coach Antonio Pierce.
That connection, dating back to 2018, is fueling increasing speculation that the Raiders might be trying to get to Daniels — and that Daniels might be trying to get to the Raiders.
The question becomes whether the Raiders can, and will, make the move to get Daniels. It would take a lot to get from No. 13 to No. 2. It becomes slightly easier if the Commanders simply decide to pick Drake Maye at No. 2, allowing Daniels to slide to No. 3.
But then the Raiders would have to do a deal with the Patriots, who might be inclined to take Daniels in that spot. And who might want as much as the Commanders would want to give up the pick.
It’s an intersection that might not happen. From the Raiders’ perspective, the price to move up might be too high. From Daniels’s perspective, the P.R. fallout from finagling a slide might be too great.
That’s the problem for players who would like to pick their NFL teams, after picking their college team(s) both when coming out of high school and through the transfer portal. Media and fans have yet to warm up to the idea of players pushing back against the Harry Potter Sorting Hat honor-and-privilege nonsense that emanates from the draft. If player is perceived as trying to engineer his next destination, there will be a blowback.
There shouldn’t be. Someday, maybe there won’t be. For now, there is.
And that might make it impossible for Daniels to get to the Raiders, and for the Raiders to get to Daniels — if Las Vegas is the place Daniels would pick, if he had the same freedom of choice that he had at the college level.
