The club has tapped a pair of now-former Seattle Seahawks to lead the team going forward, going all-in with Geno Smith at quarterback and Pete Carroll as the head coach. Those decisions have seemingly transformed the way the Raiders will operate going forward, ending a rebuild and kickstarting what figures to be a win-now approach.

Every first overall draft pick is by definition a statistical anomaly. But even among that rare crop of talent, Ward’s journey from a high school offense featuring three RBs to the top college passer is unlike any of his peers.