The Raiders are looking for their next franchise quarterback and, for now, the competition for the job is between Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew.
The coaching staff likes O’Connell more than some are probably aware, but where does Minshew figure into the mix?
Here’s what we know…
Considering the Raiders agreed to terms with Minshew on the first day of legal tampering, it’s safe to assume they considered him a priority free agency.
But the two-year, $25 million contract the Raiders are going to give Minshew also says a lot.
Based on Spotrac’s figures from 2023, Minshew’s contract has an average annual value of almost $4 million more than last year’s highest-paid QB2.
This Boardroom chart shows the top 10 backup quarterback contracts in the league (from last year) and only four deals even topped $6 million in annual value.
Minshew’s deal has an average annual value of $12.5 million…
With those numbers in mind… who should be considered the Raiders starting quarterback moving forward?
Considering the Raiders have a new offensive coordinator in building, O’Connell doesn’t necessarily have an advantage over Minshew as the team moves into the offseason.
The coaches have a relationship with O’Connell, but they also paid Minshew to be more than a backup.
The expectation is that the Raiders will take a quarterback in one of the first two rounds of the draft, but they might have enough invested in Minshew and O’Connell (from the standpoint of how much the coaches like him) to consider not being ultra-aggressive for a quarterback in the draft.
Antonio Pierce is, after all, a defensive coach.
Pierce likes both of his quarterbacks.
If an elite defensive player falls to the Raiders in the first round of the draft… would it be that big of a surprise if Pierce decides to wait and see which quarterbacks fall to the second round?
twitter: @raidersbeat
I think that either of the QB’s now on the team are plenty good enough to win a lot of games with the way the Raiders are being built. Defense first, heavy running game, play action.
Both can make the big throw down the field and make defenses pay dearly for loading up against the expected run.
Now do it as his actual money guaranteed money as a percentage vs the total salary 2024 salary cap. And compare that to the averages of backup QB percentage of 2023 salary cap… please.
I am not an expert and don’t have access to much of the administration does, but I like the fact that AP favors defense. I was a math prof at Oregon State from 1972 until 1997 and watched all the football I could. I knew nothing about GM, the WSU qb, when OSU went to play WSU. I was confident that we would beat them. That game stuck in my fading memory because I believe WSU wiped us with GM running the show. I don’t remember many qbs that we played against, but GM sticks in my mind and I don’t think that it was his long hair. According to Wikipedia, ” He was named the Rose Bowl Game’s Pac-12 Player of the Week on October 8, following his performance against Oregon State, where he completed 30 of 40 for 430 yards and five touchdowns in the 56–37 win.” When GM works with AO, I hope he shows him how to win with those stats. I have written before regarding JJ McCarthy and believe we should take him IF WE CAN. It may be greedy to have 3 qbs of high caliber, but it would be fun. Assuming that we can’t get JJ, take the best guy who can help the defense as long as he is better than the best lineman who can protect our qbs.
Unless a qb falls in our laps I think we are set for now. We can’t afford to waste our draft picks.
He’s not that guy, we a quarterback I don’t know who this guy is what can do is athletic or pocket quarterback we can’t keep dropping the ball on players.
That would be stupid. You could end up getting nothing and be rebuilding the next couple of year. Pierce doesn’t have that kind off time. It’s playoffs or blow him out. This will all be on the players.
Do they really like as quarterbacks or people because you can’t keep wasting money just to keep losing.
Now, no rush to get Jordan Travis to state this year. That’ll be a good QB room next year.