McDaniels: Competition in Quarterback Room is Important
Las Vegas Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels has let it know that competition in the quarterback room is important.
This can be seen with the front office movements.
The Raiders acquired New England Patriots backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham in a trade, signed quarterback Nick Mullens as an unrestricted free agent and signed undrafted free agent and former Cal quarterback Chase Garbers quickly after the 2022 NFL Draft.
None of this is saying that quarterback Derek Carr isn’t established as the starter.
Carr obviously is.
It’s more regarding the fact that since the quarterback position is such a hard spot to play and since backups must be ready to enter the game at a moment’s notice, competition is healthy to have at the position.
“I mean there's nothing more important than that position,” McDaniels said after OTAs. “People say, ‘Well, you got an established guy.’ We certainly do. And the next guy in line, you don't really talk about him until he's the most important guy in the organization when the starter gets hurt.
“I know there's a lot of us on the staff who have lived through some of those injuries. I certainly have experience with that.
“It’s a one of the toughest positions, if not the toughest position, to play in all of sports,” McDaniels said. “So, to try to constantly shuffle through and make sure that you're doing the best you can to provide competition in that room and to have guys in there who can learn and play and produce in your system with the with the group that we have is really an important part of any football team. And we're encouraging the competition right now.”
Essentially competition in the quarterback room allows the backups and starter to learn, grow and improve their craft.
“They’re all competing with each other, whether it's an individual drill, a 7-on-7, a team drill,” McDaniels said. “I think our football team understands that competition is the way for each player to improve. If you're out there working on your own and there's no threat of competition, sometimes, you can get lazy and lackadaisical. And so, we're trying to promote that at every spot we can, and we've got a full roster basically right now.”
Plus, all the backup quarterbacks are young and have an opportunity to grow even as backups.
“Those guys are all out there working hard,” McDaniels said. “The guys who we have now are learning and really like I said, there's a bunch of young players in our system right now.
“Each day is an opportunity for them to grow there. Derek has been tremendous in terms of his ability to learn and pick it up pretty quick. So, he kind of pushes it a little bit, which is great. And then the other guys are coming along.”
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