It's been an offseason 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 retained interim head coach Antonio Pierce for the permanent role as well as hired former Chargers GM Tom Telesco to replace Ziegler. They also allowed running back Josh Jacobs to leave in free agency, signed Christian Wilkins away from the Dolphins with a monster contract and drafted players like Brock Bowers and Jackson Powers-Johnson, among others.
One place where there was perhaps not as much change as people thought there might be, though, was in the quarterback room. It was heavily rumored during the pre-draft process that the Raiders were interested in moving up the board for one of the top passers in this class, but that didn't happen. They then saw six QBs come off the board before they were on the clock with the No. 13 pick, so they didn't end up selecting a quarterback at all.
Instead, they will head into their offseason program with Aidan O'Connell, who last season replaced the since-departed Jimmy Garoppolo as the starter, battling it out with free-agent signee Gardner Minshew, who filled in last season for the injured Anthony Richardson with the Colts. And according to Telesco, the Raiders are just fine with that.
"That's the plan is to have both those guys really compete through the offseason program, but more so in training camp, and we'll see how it plays out," Telesco said, via NFL Media. "I thought Aidan did an excellent 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. I've had a chance to be around him a little bit more in the building and you kind of see the quarterback intangibles that are there, which is nice to have, that you have 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 obviously had a pretty good year. He's always performed at a high level when he's given that opportunity, so to have both those guys here competing for the job, we'll see how it goes."
Pierce, meanwhile, has his own opinion. In a press conference, he said, "Aidan's earned the right to go out there and get the first snap," via NBC. That doesn't necessarily mean he will end up being the starter, but it would appear that Minshew will have to overtake him, rather than the other way around.
Selected in the fourth round out of Purdue in 2023, O'Connell completed 62.1% of his passes at an average of 6.5 yards per attempt, throwing for 12 touchdowns against seven interceptions and going 5-5 across his 10 starts. Minshew, who has become a longtime backup, was at 62.5% and 6.7 yards per attempt in Indy, along with 15 scores and nine picks, and had a 7-6 record.
We don't yet know if the Raiders fancy themselves a contender for a playoff spot or if they are looking 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. Finding out if the second-year pro can be a long-term starter seems more important than potentially winning a couple more games, in that scenario. But if they want to compete, then Minshew has a better chance of winning the job than he would otherwise.
