The Oakland Raiders hold the No. 4 overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. Although it is widely believed that Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota will be selected second overall - by either the Tennessee Titans or a team that trades up for him - it's entirely possible that he falls just a few spots. Should that happen, Oakland will be faced with an interesting scenario.
ESPN Raiders reporter Bill Williamson was asked on Twitter if the Raiders would ever consider drafting Mariota and, if so, would they then trade second-year quarterback Derek Carr.
"I am from the never-say-never school," Williamson wrote. "Anything is possible. However, with that said, I'd be completely stunned if this happened and it would be a major storyline of the draft. The new Oakland coaching staff has been working all offseason, constructing the offense around Carr. They think he is the future. I would doubt the new staff would start over before they even begin with Carr. So, again, I wouldn't think this is a likely scenario."
No, it is not very likely. General manager Reggie McKenzie was impressed with Carr's rookie season in which he topped 3,000 yards and threw for 21 touchdowns and 12 interceptions with virtually no offensive help. The franchise believes in Carr and is likely to provide him with some weapons early on in the draft (maybe Alabama's Amari Cooper or West Virginia's Kevin White?).
But Carr was a second-round pick who was not expected to beat out Matt Schaub for the starting job last offseason. Mariota has a much more impressive pedigree than Carr did coming out of college and is the superior athlete of the two. Like Williamson said, never-say-never. But if Oakland were to shop Carr around there would likely be several teams interested in acquiring him.
Depending on how the draft goes, the Cleveland Browns and St. Louis Rams might be interested him. Johnny Manziel is a giant question mark at this point and Nick Foles is likely just a temporary solution for St. Louis. The same goes for the New York Jets and Houston Texans who both have long-term issues under center at the moment. The San Diego Chargers are a dark horse candidate given the uncertainty surrounding Philip Rivers' future with the team.
It's fun to speculate and play the what if game but the reality is this situation will not come up.
