Raiders Rumors: Las Vegas to Be in QB Mix at NFL Draft Amid Justin Herbert Buzz

The Las Vegas Raiders and former Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert visited through a FaceTime call on Monday, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

"This is an interesting one, of course, because they have Derek Carr," Rapoport continued on NFL Total Access, "but they are very much going to be in the quarterback mix. At least as far as exploring potential options."

Herbert's stock is rising as next month's draft draws nearer, as Bleacher Report's Matt Miller relayed Monday:

The Raiders own two first-round picks at Nos. 12 and 19.

The Athletic's Vic Tafur reported on March 20 that the Raiders were high on former Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts, as he doesn't expect the likes of Herbert to still be on the board by the time it's Las Vegas' turn to pick:

"As far as the upcoming draft goes, the Raiders definitely like Oklahoma's Jalen Hurts — we have covered that in depth — but I don’t think they were happy to see him do so well at the combine. He went from a fourth-round to a second-round projection, and the Raiders have three third-round picks but none in the second. 

"Hurts would not be in the mix to play in 2020, anyway. Neither would Utah State's Jordan Love, but I no longer think the Raiders are considering Love with either of their two first-round picks at 12 or 19. And LSU's Joe Burrow, Tagovailoa and Oregon's Justin Herbert—the top three quarterbacks on the board—should be long gone by the 12th slot."

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported last week that the Raiders were one of eight teams to have "inquired" about Tom Brady before the 42-year-old future Hall of Fame quarterback signed with Tampa Bay.

"At least eight teams inquired about Tom Brady's services, and the Raiders were believed to be one," Fowler wrote. "But Las Vegas also believes it's not far away and wasn't going to overreact, and the fact other teams would have pounced on a Carr trade reminded the Raiders they had a good player at the position."

It seems Carr's future under center for the Raiders is far from concrete, though. Trade rumors involving the 29-year-old date back to at least mid-February:

The Raiders have already applied pressure in a sense by signing 2015 second overall pick Marcus Mariota, who was benched last October by the Tennessee Titans, earlier this month:

That is despite Carr having a career year in 2019. The 2014 second-round pick threw a career-most 4,054 yards on a career-best 70.4 percent completion. However, the Raiders have had three straight losing seasons.

Carr's contract runs through 2022.