Caleb Harris
It was an off-season of change for the Las Vegas Raiders. They parted ways with head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler midway through last season, and hired interim head coach Antonio Pierce to the permanent position, as well as hiring former Chargers GM Tom Telesco to replace Ziegler. They also allowed running back Josh Jacobs to leave as a free agent, signed Christian Wilkins away from the Dolphins to a monster contract, and drafted players like Brock Bowers and Jackson Powers-Johnson, among others.
One place where perhaps there wasn’t as much change as people thought there might be was in the quarterback room. There were many rumors during the pre-draft process that the Raiders were interested in moving up the ladder for one of the best passers in this class, but that didn’t happen. They then saw six QBs come off the board before they get to the clock with the No. 13 pick, so they don’t end up drafting a quarterback.
Instead, they will enter their offseason program with Aidan O’Connell, who last season replaced Jimmy Garoppolo as the starter, battling free agent Gardner Minshew, who replaced the injured Anthony Richardson last season. with the Colts. And according to Telesco, the Raiders agree with that.
“That’s the plan for these two to really compete during the offseason program, but more so in training camp, and we’ll see how that plays out,” Telesco said. via NFL Media. “I thought Aidan did a great job last year in a really difficult situation where the head coach changed, the coordinator changed and he played really good football down the stretch. building and you kind of see the quarterback intangibles that are there, the nice to have, that you need to have as a franchise quarterback.
“And then with Gardner, you know, Gardner played well last year with the Colts. I mean, he was in the Pro Bowl, so he obviously had a really good year. He’s always performed at a high level when he’s had that opportunity, so having these two guys here competing for the job, we’ll see how it goes.”
Pierce, however, has his own opinion. At a press conference, he said: “Aidan has earned the right to go there and take the first photo.” via NBC. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll end up being the starter, but it looks like Minshew will have to overtake him, not the other way around.
A fourth-round pick out of Purdue in 2023, O’Connell has completed 62.1% of his passes while averaging 6.5 yards per attempt, throwing 12 touchdowns against seven interceptions and going 5-for-5 in his 10 starts. Minshew, who became a longtime backup, had 62.5 percent and 6.7 yards per attempt at Indy, along with 15 scores and nine picks, and had a 7-6 record.
We still don’t know if the Raiders consider themselves contenders for a playoff spot or if they intend to build for the long term. If it’s the latter, it’s hard to see a justification for choosing to start Minshew over O’Connell. Figuring out whether the second-year pro can be a starter long-term seems more important than potentially winning a few more games, in this scenario. But if they want to compete, Minshew will have a better chance of winning the job than he would have otherwise.
