NFL Trade Rumors: Will the Oakland Raiders Trade Up to Grab a QB in Round 2?

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NFL Trade Rumors Ponder Likelihood of Raiders Trading Up to Grab Quarterback in Friday's Second Round

The Oakland Raiders have been the subject of NFL trade rumors since shortly before the 2011 NFL Draft kicked off on Thursday night. Experts were speculating that the team was angling to vault back into the first round (they were the only club without a first round pick at the start of the evening), but in the end, Oakland was quiet on the trade front.

However, there have been rumblings coming out of Oakland that the silver and black aren't done trying to work their way back up the draft ladder yet.

National Football Post's Wes Bunting hinted that the Raiders were looking to move into the first round to get Colin Kaepernick yesterday, but the same could easily apply to the second round.

The team has three options in the second round for a quarterback, assuming that's what the Raiders are after. Colin Kaepernick, Andy Dalton and Ryan Mallett are all projected to leave the board in the early-going on Friday, with plenty of quarterback-starved teams sitting in prime position to take on.

Must Read: 2011 NFL Draft Results: Grades and Results for All 32 First Round Picks.

Oakland find themselves picking 16th in the second round, 48th overall, out of the running behind quarterback hungry squads like the Bengals, Bills and 49ers.

But, given their glut of late draft picks, the Raiders have the tools necessary to vault past one or more of those teams and grab Kaepernick, Mallett or Dalton.

The move would actually make sense, to boot; while Oakland has Jason Campbell, it's looking increasingly likely that the veteran is never going to turn into the franchise quarterback people envisioned. But, because he's not actively bad, just not great, they could take a Kaepernick, who would need a couple years before he's fully ready to be an NFL quarterback and stick him behind Campbell, to ease his transition into the NFL.

Granted, taking a quarterback doesn't fill any of Oakland's biggest needs (corners, offensive line help, improving run defense), but for an Al Davis pick, it's surprisingly logical. Grabbing a quarterback now builds for the future, while not damaging your team's chances significantly in the next year.

Of course, it makes so much sense that Al "I picked JaMarcus Russell and Darius Heyward-Bey" Davis probably won't actually do it, but you never know. Maybe, in this screwy draft, Davis will make smart choices, rather than taking his usual first-pick busts.

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