The Oakland Raiders are getting very close to acquiring Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub and that will likely alter their draft strategy for this May in a dramatic way. With Schaub and his $10 million salary coming to town, the Raiders are now unlikely to draft a quarterback, per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.
Florio penned a piece saying as much and also reiterated his stance on The Dan Patrick Show later in the morning. In the mind of Florio, the decision to not draft a young quarterback for the future at No. 5 overall has less to do with keeping Schaub happy and more to do with Reggie McKenzie and Dennis Allen not being around long enough to see their plan through.
"With coach Dennis Allen and G.M. Reggie McKenzie likely not having the luxury of finding out whether a first-round pick can blossom into a great quarterback, the smart move is to get the guy more likely to help the team make a move now in a division with three other teams that went to the playoffs last year."
Both Allen and McKenzie survived the buzz saw this offseason but another losing season will likely condemn them in 2015. Florio states that the Raiders are in a win-now mode and drafting a quarterback for the future helps the franchise and not the guys running it, which may be part of the problem in Oakland.