Mailbag: Would the Raiders have drafted Michael Penix Jr. or Bo Nix?

The NFL schedule is out and OTAs are just around the corner for the Las Vegas Raiders. We also have a few hypothetical questions for this week’s mailbag but before we get into that, I just wanted to say thank you all for your kind messages about my grandfather. Whether it was in the comments section here or replies to my post on X/Twitter, I really appreciate the support and that speaks to the community that is Raider Nation! That meant a lot to me.

Anyway, let’s get to it.

Answer: I honestly don’t think so. I get the feeling they didn’t value the quarterbacks that much and the team’s brass has been vocal that Brock Bowers was their guy. Maybe that’s just to hype up their pick and help inspire confidence in Bowers, but his tape is enough to justify wanting him over someone like Bo Nix. Now if Bowers wasn’t available because the Broncos took him, maybe Nix is the pick but it sounds like Terrion Arnold was also high on their board.

A: I do get more pause about Michael Penix Jr. because the league was higher on him than Nix and so was I. Also, ESPN’s Matt Miller said Las Vegas really likes the Washington quarterback ahead of the draft whereas those rumors weren’t as prominent with Nix. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if they would have taken Penix had he fallen to 13.

A: The Raiders got more experienced coaches on the offensive line and at quarterback. Both Bo Hardegree and Camren Bricillo were still relatively inexperienced in their roles in the NFL, while James Cregg and Rich Scangarello have been around much longer.

Cregg’s claim to fame is coaching the best offensive line in college football on LSU’s National Championship team, to go along with almost a decade of NFL experience. Scangarello is a harder sell as he hasn’t had much success outside of getting a few quality years out of Jimmy Grappolo in San Francisco.

Las Vegas went in the other direction with its running back coaching, swapping out Kennedy Polumalu for Carnell “Cadillac” Williams. You probably remember Cadillac from his playing days at Auburn and with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, so he has some NFL experience but none as a coach. He had been coaching at Auburn since 2019, serving as the interim head coach in 2022 and assistant head coach in 2023, before resigning at the end of the year.

The defense has two main additions, Gerald Alexander (safeties) and Ricky Manning Jr. (cornerbacks). Both are like Williams, former players who don’t have a ton of experience at their current positions.

Overall, I like what Antonio Pierce has done as far as building a staff that’s filled with former players, similar to what Dan Campbell has done in Detroit. But that has come at the sacrifice of experience. Hopefully, having guys like Marvin Lews, Joe Philbin and Rob Ryan will balance that out.

As far as Luke Getsy goes, it took him a while to start developing the running game around Justin Fields, but Getsy eventually got there and Fields did have a ton of rushing yards over the last two years. So, he’s shown some ability to adapt in the past, it just took longer than one would hope. He’s is also still pretty new to being an offensive coordinator, so it’s hard to say definitively.

A: Both Gety and Fields are culpable but I’d point the finger more toward the quarterback. Fields missed a lot of open reads and ran into a bunch of sacks that really held the Bears’ offense back. There’s a reason why he’s expected to be the backup in Pittsburgh and Chicago didn’t give much in return for him, which should give Raiders fans more optimism about Getsy. Again, he’s still on the hook for some of the offense’s struggles, but Fields did leave plenty of opportunities out there.

A: Thank you!

Man, you guys are making me into a Luke Getsy defender today, lol! I think Getsy will probably get a full season, but the Raiders could turn to Scott Turner if Antonio Pierce doesn’t like the direction the offense is going. Turner was a holdover from Josh McDaniels’ staff, but only spent one year with McDaniels and was brought in last year for an outside perspective on the offense. He has play-calling/offensive coordinator experience in Washington.

A: After June 1 when Garappolo’s contract comes off the books, I would expect to see some extensions start to come in. I would imagine Malcolm Koonce is one of the top priorities, but it could make sense for the Raiders to make him prove it for one more year and for Koonce to hold off on a new deal so he can test the free agent market in the offseason. Not saying that’s what’s going to happen, but that is a potential scenario.

A: Thank you, I appreciate the condolences!

I would swap out Andrus Peat for Dylan Parham but the rest I completely agree with. Peat wasn’t starting for the Saints last season before Trevor Penning flamed out at left tackle, and Peat was solid but nothing special at that spot. I also think people are writing off Parham a little too quickly for some reason. He hasn’t been great but is solid and enters year three which will be a breaking point. He at least has more potential than Peat does.

A: Thank you!

To contradict myself a bit here, Parham’s spot isn’t locked down so he could end up losing it in training camp. However, Cody Whitehair also wasn’t very good last season as he got benched in Chicago. I guess I’m just betting on Parham’s potential and him taking another step toward being a good, but not great starter.

A: LOL! I feel like haven’t heard it that much but, like you alluded to, making the Pro Bowl doesn’t mean much at quarterback with how many of them opt out. So, I don’t give people much credit if they use that in an argument. If that happens to you, just hit’em with a “You don’t know ball!”.

A: Thank you!

The 2020 class, was full of reaches at just about every pick as Amik Roberston ended up being the best player from that group. Lynn Bowden was a tough one, same with Tanner Muse and Damon Arnette. The 2021 class was a bit of a mixed bag but did produce Tre’von Moehrig, Malcolm Koonce and Nate Hobbs. Those are some quality defensive starters to salvage some value.

A: They had quite a few last year as the NFL was trying to show off Allegiant Stadium since it was the Super Bowl site. So part of it is balancing out the primetime games, but a big factor is the quarterback situation. The league likes to market big QB matchups since that’s what draws the common fan and Aidan O’Connell or Gardner Minshew aren’t going to move the needle much for most people.

A: As you probably can imagine, my grandpa was a fan of old-school football, so he’d want to know about the trenches and how the Raiders are at running the ball. He’d love the style of football Antonio Pierce wants to play and would be a big fan of the defensive line with Maxx Crosby and Christian Wilkins. He’d definitely be in the Taliese Fuaga over Bowers camp, but I think I could convince him the line will be alright with Jackson Powers-Johnson and Thanyer Munford Jr. moving people in the running game.

A: He didn’t really have an allegiance to an NFL team. He grew up in Tennessee in the 40s and 50s, well before the Titans were even a thought, and he moved around a lot. He was a Baptist preacher/pastor who would often get called to help new or struggling churches get off the ground. He started his first church when he was 18 years old and continued preaching until his health started declining in his early 80s.

Back to the football part of my answer, my Papa just liked to watch whatever NFL games were on in general since he didn’t stick around in one city very long and was a big fan of SEC football. He also liked USC because he did spend a good amount of time preaching in the Santa Maria and the San Diego areas.

That’ll do it for this week’s mailbag. Thank you all for submitting questions and, as your weekly reminder, if you’d like to have your questions answered in a future column, tweet them at me, @MHolder95, email them to SBPQuestions1@gmail.com or look for our weekly call for questions on the site. The latter will continue to publish on Thursdays.