The Raiders were one of the teams that [almost] everyone had pegged to take a quarterback in the draft, but when the lights turned off in Detroit on Saturday night, there were no drafted quarterbacks headed to Las Vegas – at least not to play football.
The Raiders are now headed into the 2024 season with Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew at quarterback and that’s a quarterback formula that hasn’t generated a lot of excitement outside of the building to this point.
Minshew is one of the most respected backup quarterbacks in the league, and O’Connell experienced a lot of highs and lows in his rookie season. Neither have proven they can hold down a starting job in the NFL.
After five seasons in the league, the Raiders mostly know what they have in Minshew, but what about O’Connell?
The biggest criticism of O’Connell has been his mobility, or lack thereof, but he showed in his rookie year that he has plenty of potential as a passer. His 8 touchdowns against no interceptions over the last four games of the season was a pleasant surprise, and the only game he didn’t throw a touchdown in that stretch was during a 20-14 win in Kansas City.
Considering the strong finish to his first NFL season, should there be a little more optimism around O’Connell going into his second season?
This week on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast, Sports Illustrated‘s Hondo Carpenter quoted an anonymous NFL executive who asked an interesting question on O’Connell’s long-term outlook in the NFL.
“Forget Aidan O’Connell was drafted in the fourth round. With his stats and his record, if he had been a first-round pick would anyone have been calling for him to be replaced?” the executive asked.
“It’s absolutely a fact,” the executive continued. “There’s no way if he was a first-round draft pick that anybody would have been talking about getting rid of him. He had the second-best stats of all the rookies [at quarterback], only behind C.J. Stroud.”
Time will be the judge on O’Connell’s career, but it’s probably safe to say a lot of NFL media types underestimated the respect O’Connell has earned in the Raiders’ building.
Remember, the Raiders passed on the cost to move up in the draft for Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye, but J.J. McCarthy was well within reach if they were willing to make a deal with the Jets for the 10th-overall pick.
Just a thought… but is it possible that Tom Telesco and Antonio Pierce like their quarterback situation a little more than what everyone was thinking a week ago?
twitter: @raidersbeat
Yes give the young buck a chance
He wasn’t drafted to be the starter. He probably got little to no practice snaps after week one. He was thrust into the starting role mid-season and held things together with a boring and predictable playbook, yet finished the season strong. He’s earned the chance
I think Aiden will do very well. He had great numbers coming out of Purdue. I expect him to have a great season! He played well the last 3 games.
Let’s not forget that he didn’t complete a pass after the first quarter I believe against the chiefs. I don’t believe he is ever going to be a franchise qb. With that being said I believe he will be a perennial back up.
A super stud QB is not required in order to compete for a SB. Build a good solid team, like the 49ers, and you can compete on a yearly basis.