The Raiders are moving into the second week the preseason and they have a quarterback competition that only seems to get tighter as the season gets closer.
Beat writers around the team say there has been very little separation between Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew, and that dynamic could potentially play out into the regular season.
In an ESPN Insider piece this week, Dan Graziano shared his most likely short and long-term outcomes for the Raiders at the quarterback position.
And here it is…
“Most likely outcome: O’Connell opens the season as the starter, but Minshew eventually looks like the better option and starts the bulk of the games. The Raiders play excellent defense but struggle to score and finish at the bottom of the AFC West. They draft a quarterback with a high pick in the 2025 draft or trade for someone like Kirk Cousins.
Long shot outcome: Minshew Magic leads the Raiders to a surprise playoff berth. They aren’t picking high enough in the draft to find their answer, but it doesn’t matter because they’re all-in on signing Dak Prescott in free agency no matter how much it costs.“
It’s anyone’s guess how the season is going to play out, but it does seem like a slim majority believe O’Connell will end up winning the job. Minshew might be playing a little better than O’Connell in recent days, but it sounds like Minshew will need to definitively outplay his incumbent competition over the course the next few days to get the starting job.
That’s a scenario that could still play out for Minshew, though, as the decision makers in the Raiders building are expected to put a lot of stock into this week’s preseason game against the Cowboys.
x: @raidersbeat
This is laughable as Raider click bate usually is, ESPN Insider shares “most likely” and ” short term” outcomes. The Raiders play excellent defense but struggle to score and finish at the bottom of the AFC West. What game was Insider watching last week when the Raiders starters on defense play was atrocious, saw a headline that Pierce wasn’t happy what he saw on defense and neither was Raider Nation! I don’t believe they’ll struggle to score and definitely don’t believe they’ll finish at bottom of AFC West unless defense plays all season like last week, we’ll leave those spots for the dolts & donkeys who both usually do their version of the Jets in the West, shootem themselves in the foot!!
“but it doesn’t matter because they’re all-in on signing Dak Prescott in free agency no matter how much it costs.“ DAK PRESCOTT, that’s laughable nobody should be going after him, he’s proven nothing!!! On a side note, something that’s been irritating me for several weeks now is Mark Davis sent the season ticket holders a “Pirates Booty Treasure Chest” loaded with goodies as a thank you for them making the single season tickets the highest price in the land, which has this Raiders fan pissed and I’m sure the rest of the Raider Nation equally pissed, what happened to pride, home field advantage and consistent mediocre or worse play reflected in an affordable ticket to a game for a fan of the team?! I’ve been wanting to travel to see the new stadium of my beloved team which I’ve done twice before traveling from New York to Oakland with the boys which was doable on a middle-class salary but not with a nosebleed seat two rows from the top consistently going for $400+ each game every season, seriously there has never been a team in the history of football with the Raiders record to get prices like this all because the season ticket holders are profiteering off of the venue of the likes of teams like the Chiefs etc., whom by the way Santa Claus granted my present of kicking their asses in KC on Christmas Day, thanks Santa, who’s fans all want to flock to Vega to see their team beat the daylights out of the Raiders, never thought in my wildest dreams of the “Black Hole” being out-chanted by an opponents team fans in “Our House” if anything season ticket holders should be banned from selling to opponents team fanbases with stipulations stating they aren’t allowed to sell a certain percentage of tickets and or anyone entering stadium with opposing teams rags won’t be admitted under any circumstances!!! These season ticket holders are sellouts to the Nation to the highest bidder and should have the tickets revoked!!!! While I’m at it before this stadium was built Davis sent out an email survey asking the Nation their opinion on how important it was to have parking and tailgating to them with something like 1-10, 10 being very important and of course any self-respecting Nation member would rate that a 10, with The Nation fans having the notorious distinction of having the best tailgating of any team of any sport let alone football!!! My experiences of tailgating in Oakland were the best of the best, people we never met were giving us free food, drinks, laughs, never have I experienced this kind of hospitality more than 2000 miles from home and what does Davis do, he doesn’t have on-site parking at the stadium and it’s a hodge-podge of parking at casinos etc. spreading everyone all over the place instead of the immersive experience of being one big happy Nation!!! Let me just say it’s a fucking desert, you have all the room in the world to build a fucking stadium why did you have to restrict it to little to no parking on-site dumbass bowl-cut boy with your 26 yr old girlfriend who “wasn’t aware you were a billionaire”?!!!