It's been a little over two months since John Spytek took over as Raiders general manager and immediately got to work seemingly addressing a few questions pertaining to the roster.

The more demanding of them all – the quarterback position.

As the team parted ways with Gardner Minshew earlier this month, it left Aidan O'Connell and Carter Bradley in the QB room. Since Day 1 in their positions, Spytek and Head Coach Pete Carroll made it clear they'd be looking at all options at signal caller.

"At the opening press conference, I feel that Coach and I hammered home that we were going to leave no stone, no rock unturned at really any position – but critically the quarterback position," Spytek said on Upon Further Review with Eddie Paskal. "We were trying to be involved in any possible player moment there was out there at the quarterback position."

Those possibilities unfolded quickly as they saw a chance to trade one of their 2025 third-round draft picks for quarterback Geno Smith – someone the Raiders head coach is incredibly familiar with. Smith played four seasons under Carroll with the Seattle Seahawks, becoming the full-time starter in his third season with the team. In that 2022 season, he set career highs in passing yards (4,282) and passing touchdowns (30) plus led the league in completion percentage (69.8).

"When you've watched Geno through the years, he can throw the football with the best of any of them, honestly," Spytek said. "I mean, you watch some of the throws he makes over and over again downfield, you know, short, intermediate. The touch is there; the arm strength is there. And when you have Coach Carroll in your camp and he can swear by the player, the competitor, the worker, the leader. That's a front-row seat, or that's information that if I was still with the Bucs, for instance, we wouldn't have.

"As we got into it and we evaluated the options in free agency, the other players that were maybe available via trade – ultimately we arrived at a spot where we thought adding Geno made a lot of sense for us. It upgraded the position in our opinion."

Spytek also spoke on other additions made to the roster, which included bolstering the secondary. Safeties Jeremy Chinn, Lonnie Johnson Jr. and cornerback Eric Stokes were signings that add size and strength on the back end, similar to Carroll's defenses in Seattle with Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas.

Spytek believes Chinn "played some of his best football" with the Washington Commanders last year and can adequately fill the void at strong safety following Tre'von Moehrig signing with the Panthers. Both Chinn and Johnson are also players he's familiar with from scouting while still with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Stokes will provide "the size and speed on the outside" that the Raiders are trying to pattern their defense after, getting a fresh start in Las Vegas after injuries limited his playing time with the Green Bay Packers.

The Raiders also added linebacker Elandon Roberts, running back Raheem Mostert and guard Alex Cappa. Mostert, who rushed for 18 touchdowns in 2023, was "excited about the opportunity to be a Raiders" due to his connection with offensive coordinator Chip Kelly from their time together with the San Francisco 49ers. Cappa was brought in to add depth in the trenches, already having an established relationship with Spytek. Cappa was drafted in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft to the Buccaneers when Spytek was in their scouting department. The guard played four seasons in Tampa and has only missed one game of action in his last five seasons.

"Cap's a great competitor, tough, smart," Spytek said. "He's going to be a great sounding board I think for JPJ [Jackson Powers-Johnson] in the middle, and he'll help set him at ease. [Buccaneers All-Pro tackle] Tristen Wirfs always talked about what a value Cap was for him when Tristen was a rookie, settling him down and communicating and all the great things that are part of good O-line play."

Spytek and the Raiders will now move their attention to the draft as they become fully engulfed in pro days and top 30 visits. Spytek praised his scouting department for the insight they've brought to the table as they look to finalize their draft board.

And once the Raiders head coach and general manager bring in their draft class, it will be an all out effort from both of them to bring their vision for the organization to life.

"Pete only knows one way, which is, 'Let's go. We're trying to win right now. We're going to compete right now,'" Spytek said. "And I only know one way too. We can be intelligently aggressive and bring the right kind of people and players into this building and stack it up to the point where we are a formidable foe. And then as we get the momentum going, sports is very much momentum, it's game to game, it's week to week, it's season to season.

"And once we have that rolling here in Vegas, people are going to want to be a part of it."