Did Raiders' Next QB Play in National Championship Game?

The college football season is over, as the Ohio State Buckeyes took home the College Football Playoff National Championship over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The Las Vegas Raiders have been working hard to find a new head coach and general manager, and they have finally found the latter.

The Raiders have hired Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant general manager John Spytek as their next general manager. Spytek was instrumental in the Bucs winning four consecutive NFC South titles.

Now that the Raiders have a GM in place, they can begin to look at potential roster upgrades. Whether those come through free agency or the 2025 NFL Draft is up to Spytek.

The national championship featured two of college football’s best quarterbacks. Will Howard led the way for the Buckeyes as they claimed their first title since 2014, while Riley Leonard willed the Irish as far as they could go.

Both quarterbacks spent several seasons at smaller schools before transferring to two of the biggest brands in college football last season. Both were looking for an opportunity to play winning football at an elite team while also improving their draft stock.

Howard and Leonard likely won’t go higher than the third day of the draft, but we have seen quarterbacks come from the later rounds and be successful. Could two quarterbacks who played at the highest level of college football be successful in the NFL?

The Raiders are in the market for a quarterback. The team did not have any consistency from that position last season, and a new coach entering the fold will want their own guy.

Howard and Leonard are similar quarterbacks. Neither are headline-grabbing talents at the position, but they are solid and can make plays within an offense. Howard can use his legs to pick up first downs, while Leonard can be used as a runner primarily in an offense.

It would not be an inspiring draft selection, but Howard and Leonard have proven they can be NFL quarterbacks with how they played during the CFP.

However, it may be redundant for the Raiders to select another mid-round quarterback who put up big numbers in college but did not have desirable traits as they did with O’Connell in 2023.

The Raiders will evaluate all options in this year’s draft, and two college championship-level quarterbacks could get serious looks.

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