All the attention around the Raiders right now seems to involve Antonio Pierce and Jim Harbaugh, but once the team decides who is going to be their GM and head coach, the next big decision for the organization is going to involve their quarterback.
Jimmy Garoppolo and Brian Hoyer are expected to be released, and that will leave the Raiders with only Aidan O’Connell, who played well in his rookie year, but not well enough to be named the starter going into next year.
The Raiders are expected to be aggressive in their search for another quarterback, but Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter believes O’Connell is very well respected in the locker room and some players think he could eventually win the starting job.
“I know this. Off the record, I’ve not heard one player say, ‘We’ve got to get another quarterback,'” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“I’ve talked to a lot [of players]. [They] think he could be special. He’s got a cannon of an arm. I think you get him with somebody who can develop him, you give him an OTA, mini-camp, training camp, with a new scheme. I still go get [another] quarterback and let them compete, but I think this kid has a lot of upside and I am in no way willing to say he’s the next Kenny Stabler, but I’m in no way willing to throw him away… I think he has a lot of potential.”
O’Connell might not be plan ‘A’ going into next year, but the Raiders’ fourth-round pick did outplay the draft’s first-overall pick…
With the 13th pick in the draft, the Raiders probably won’t be a threat to get one of the top 2 quarterbacks in the draft, but there is a lot of depth at quarterback in this year’s draft class.
Among the rookie quarterbacks that could potentially fall to the Raiders (or at least slide in the draft to where the Raiders can afford to trade up) are Bo Nix, Michael Penix Jr., J.J. McCarthy, and Jayden Daniels.
Of course, there is also a chance the Raiders will go ofter a free agent quarterback like Kirk Cousins or Justin Fields.
twitter: @raidersbeat
I love Aidan OConnell.He will be the next Stabler
What drugs are you on, bud? AOC is a poor man’s Vinny Testaverde.
Facts don’t care about your feelings.
Hilarious comparison,so Stabler’s nickname was The Snake,O’Connell’s should be The Statue.
You know who else was a statue? Tom Brady, I’m not saying he is Tom Brady, just stating Facts!
Get him some state of the art QB training during the off-season, work on extending plays, quickness, throwing on the run. Now I’m not saying this will turn him into Lamar Jackson, but he already has good accuracy, a strong arm, and shows the ability to learn/improve.
I love O’Connell he has a big Arm and knows where to go with the football. His upside is huge.
Super accurate, short or long, had to play under McDaniels system, with new schemes and hopefully better protection he will surge
Has anyone ever tried comparing Aidan O’Connell’s stats with Derek Carr’s rookie stats? O’Connell has a higher completion percentage and his YPC was higher than Carr’s. Then again Carr had the lowest YPC in the league when he was a rookie. Except for the interceptions O’Connell would’ve had a better rookie season. But he improved as the season went along so I’m not ready give up on the kid yet. He had to work under first time playcallers like Lombardi and Hardegee whereas Carr had an experienced playcaller in Olsen. He may yet learn how to use his mobility and avoid all those sacks. He needs an experienced playcaller to work with him. Even Greg Olsen wouldn’t be a bad option. He gets the most out of his quarterbacks.
But Carr didn’t have the receivers we have today and still managed to make them better than they were. You gotta have the guys to catch the ball.
No. We don’t need Cousins or Fields. Get someone in the draft.
I see Aidan being the next Lamonica only much much better.
Hahaha! You’re talking about a legend so slow those jets down!
I say give O’Connell real shot next season.
I’d rather go with O’Connell than either of free agents mentioned
lets trade Jimmy G to Denver for Russell Wilson at least get something for him
Boy, I thought I was the only one in O’Connell’s corner. He’s the man if Mark Davis wants to build on the current momentum.
It’s ridiculous to judge AOC, based on this season… But if you do, then I believe he did much better than Elway or Manning in their first year in the NFL.
The raiders do not need to sign a high priced free agent QB…
Draft Penax Jr because he is a winner and can throw the bomb which is A trade mark of the 70s to mid 80s……
He and Aiden can fight it out every year until one emerges
I had the same thoughts but when I found out he’s had both knees rebuilt and some other injuries I wonder how durable he’ll be? Might be better if we pick up Bo Nix in our draft position if he’s still there. He’s a also a proven winning with minimal injury history. I still am a Penax fan though.
A lot of positives in Aidan and he may one day be our future. We really dropped the ball when we let the donkey’s steal Jarrett Stidham so we do need to keep him locked up. But we all know the team will be hot in the market very soon. I know alot of you don’t want Fields but he is a franchise QB that hasn’t had much of a team so far, with our supporting cast he’d have a chance to prove how good he is and with Cousins or even Mayfield we could have a proven starter and be able to build the lines and secondary in the draft and free agent market. O’Connell is not the 2nd coming of Kenny Stabler! But he is a good young player that we need to keep and develop. He might be the man one day and if we get an older guy now his time might come sooner.
Not sure we dropped the ball with Stidham, other than he couldn’t have been worse than JG, Stidham was not the long term answer.
For a rook to perform in the shitshow that was the RAIDERS this year is admirable. He put up over 60 in a game and had VERY **** FEW PICKS. With a full offseason and camp i think he can do the job….just ask the best RECIEVER in the NFL. Davante loves him.
Build defense run the ball, play action go deep. GO RAIDERS🤘😎🎯🏈
Players wint trash the QB (unless it’s Adams and the QB is pretty like Jimmy G!). Where is O’Connell in QB comparisons? What’s his W / L record? No one else wants him so might as well keep him, but he’s nothing special and never will be.
Jayden Daniels is the next Lamar Jackson. The Raiders need to get him!
All good points I am reading. I say get any decent OC in there n with the talent we have on offense there is no way that we dont have one of the top offenses in league. For us to struggle like we did much of this season on offense (sometimes we were not close to mediocre) is beyond inexplainable n inexcusable. We have far to much talent on offense n now with our understanding that we have great depth at RB, n maybe signing another TE we will be better than good.
If we are not a force to be dealt with next season it will be due to Davis not signing Pierce n again screwing up a very good n should be balanced team. If that happens us Fans have to take action n create the Fan Union I have spoken about n cease control from Davis n exercise our right to inclusion of day-to-day operations.