Following the Raiders preseason home opener Saturday night, Antonio Pierce said he’d seen enough to make a decision on who the team’s starting quarterback would be between incumbent Aidan O’Connell and veteran Gardner Minshew, but would take a couple days to make the final decision. He took a few hours.
Pierce announced Sunday morning that Gardner Minshew will be the Raiders’ starting quarterback to begin the season.
“Based on where we want to go in the first quarter of the season, we feel like Gardner gives us the best opportunity.”
Minshew had a better training camp overall and looked solid in the team’s first preseason game in Minnesota. He would’ve made he decision easier had he kept up that level of play in the game Saturday night, but in the end, he had shown enough prior to that to earn the job.
“His personality is infectious, his energy is infectious, his leadership is infectious,” Pierce said of Minshew. “Things of improvement; footwork in the pocket, staying on script. There is such magic about him when he does break the pocket and does his thing, but there’s a lot of times where the first or second read is there and he’s got to let it rip. And more importantly, taking care of the football.”