One of the most hotly contested quarterback battles this training camp will be burning away in Las Vegas.
It would seem, based off experience and the free-agent contract he signed, that Gardner Minshew is the favorite, but a former Raiders quarterback believes Aidan O'Connell shouldn’t be sold short, especially considering the marvelous rookie campaign he had.
“At the beginning of the year, he was third on the depth chart and then he ended up finishing the entire year,” O’Connell’s former Raiders teammate Brian Hoyer said on SiriusXM NFL Radio with Amber Theoharis. “I thought, to see his growth and what he was able to do as a fourth-round pick, was tremendous.”
When the 2023 Raiders season was all said and done, Las Vegas had started three quarterbacks -- Jimmy Garoppolo, Hoyer and O’Connell -- and had had two head coaches on the sideline in Josh McDaniels and his interim replacement Antonio Pierce.
Pierce is now the full-time head coach with Minshew or O’Connell set to be his Week 1 starter.
Heading into last season, Garoppolo was the newly minted Raiders QB1, likely as a bridge until Las Vegas could find a young replacement for the future. Despite the veteran presence of Garoppolo and Hoyer, O’Connell, who was taken in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft out of Purdue, ended up giving the Raiders their best chance for victory in Pierce’s mind, and so the rookie was under center the remainder of the campaign, from Weeks 9-18.
At season’s conclusion, O’Connell was 5-5 as a starter, having completed 62.1% of his passes for 2,218 yards, 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 11 overall games. He wasn’t dazzling, but he had his moments, making the best of a roller-coaster ride of the season and showing ample grit and toughness.
"Being there firsthand and watching Aidan grow, I remember him saying at the end of the year, 'I never thought this is how this year would play out.'” Hoyer said. “Obviously, Jimmy Garoppolo was the opening-day starter and then by the end of the year Aidan was playing.”
Minshew, meanwhile, was keeping the Indianapolis Colts’ playoff hopes alive until the final week of the season. Like O’Connell, he wasn’t the starter in Week 1, but he took over for an injured Anthony Richardson and went ahead and earned a Pro Bowl spot, going 7-6 as a starter with 3,305 passing yards, 15 TDs and nine INTs.
When the Raiders were unable to get one of the top six quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft after a record-setting QB run, they went with tight end Brock Bowers and will now go with Minshew or O’Connell.
It's an uphill battle for O'Connell, who's the underdog despite seniority on the squad. For all but one of his starts, O'Connell's offensive coordinator was Bo Hardegree, who was the interim OC after McDaniels' ousting. However, Hardegree is with the Tennessee Titans now and Luke Getsy is Las Vegas' new OC. Thus, O'Connell and Minshew are starting from scratch as it relates to learning and leading the offense.
"I was actually kind of shocked that they didn't even look at possibly retaining Bo Hardegree, because when Bo took over as offensive coordinator middle of the year, it took a while, but things started to pick up," Hoyer said. "Obviously, we had the big game against the Chargers and then finished the year on a strong note."
Hardegree has moved on, though, despite the 63-point showing against the Chargers and more likely because Las Vegas largely struggled on offense no matter who was calling the plays.
Regardless, what O’Connell was able to do in 2023 has gone a long way with Pierce, who has been adamant that the 25-year-old will get a fair shot at a starting spot. It’s also obviously gone a long way with Hoyer, who is admittedly biased but is of the mind that O’Connell has shown the potential and intangibles necessary to lead the Silver and Black.
"Maybe I'm biased,” Hoyer said, “but I think what Aidan did last year -- I know he hasn't shown it as much as Gardner Minshew has throughout his career -- but I know the guys really gravitated to the way Aidan took over and his leadership as a young player."
Whether Pierce and Co. gravitate to making O’Connell the starter will be decided later this summer as he squares off with Minshew.