Mailbag: Is Drake Maye a possible acquisition for the Raiders?

We’ve got the Super Bowl on deck this weekend which means we’re creeping closer to the official start of the offseason. Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Raiders have been busy making moves, gearing up for free agency and the NFL Draft so let’s dive into a few offseason questions for this week’s mailbag.

Question: Do you think Drake Maye might be a sleeper for the Raiders? Nobody is talking about him being on the Raiders’ radar.

Answer: Drake Maye isn’t being talked about as someone who’s on the Raiders’ radar because he’s probably not making it past the first three picks, so they would have to trade up to get him. Diving into that further, the Bears are the most likely team to trade out of the Top 3 and Caleb Williams is the consensus best quarterback in the class right now.

So, if the Raiders are going to trade up, most people would assume it’s for Williams and not Maye.

I like Maye a lot and would be really happy if the Raiders ended up with him, but there’s only one scenario where I think that could happen. If Marvin Harrison Jr. goes in the top three — an argument could be made that Chicago or New England targets MHJ — then Arizona would be more likely to trade No. 4 overall. That would be an easier trade, than No. 1 overall, for Las Vegas to make and could mean Maye is their guy.

Also, the Chargers, Giants and Titans don’t need a quarterback, meaning picks five, six and seven could be available. Basically, if Maye does slide out of the Top 3, the Raiders would just have to get ahead of the Falcons to get him, barring another team trading up.

How likely is that scenario? I’d lean towards not very. But hey, it’s the draft and part of the fun of it is we spend several months trying to figure out what’s going to happen only to be surprised on draft day!