Heading into the 2024 NFL Draft, the assumption around the league was that the Las Vegas Raiders may be in business for a rookie quarterback. Sure, Vegas had just recently signed Gardner Minshew and second-year signal-caller Aidan O’Connell played reasonably well down the stretch during his rookie season, but neither of these guys were viewed as the longterm answer at quarterback. But inside of Raiders headquarters, that may not actually be the case.
According to ESPN’s NFL insider Jeremy Fowler, Aidan O’Connell is the early leader in the Raiders quarterback battle, in part because of how star wide receiver Davante Adams feels about him.
“O’Connell and Minshew in the spring went tit for tat; went after it. O’Connell probably has the slight edge right now based on coming into Year 2, being more vocal,” Fowler said during a Sunday morning SportsCenter appearance (h/t Doric Sam of Bleacher Report). “I’m told he’s acting like a starting quarterback and Davante Adams loves him, which always helps certainly with the brownie points.”
Fowler also said that Minshew has impressed as well, noting that the journeyman back-up has “shown some moxie” and “been good at the off-script stuff.” But the fact that O’Connell is the current leader in the clubhouse shouldn’t come as a huge surprise.
From the time Aidan O’Connell took over as the Raiders’ starter, Davante Adams hauled in 56 receptions for 605 yards and 5 touchdowns in the final nine games of the season, slightly better numbers on a per-game basis than he averaged in the opening eight games of the season. Not only that, but the Raiders started winning when O’Connell took over. Las Vegas was 5-5 with O’Connell starting, and 3-4 under Jimmy Garoppolo and Brian Hoyer. But that could have a lot to do with new head coach Antonio Pierce as well.