There is a full blown quarterback competition happening in Raiders camp. The battle is between second-year incumbent starter Aidan O’Connell and journeyman veteran Gardner Minshew. And that competition is far from having a frontrunner.
“We got some more practices to go at it to be honest with you,” head coach Antonio Pierce said of his QB competition. “I don’t think it’s fair to do it. The offseason they don’t have pads on, the Oline, the Dline, the way that’s working out with protections, it’s different when we get pads on. I think you’ll get a better feel for it overall. And also guys just getting into the system right away in the Spring. Learning it. So there’s going to be some days where Aidan looks better and there’s some days where Gardner [looks better] and some days when they both look bad and both look good. It will take its course while we’re here in Southern California.”
Wednesday the team will take the field for their first practice at Jack Hammett Sports Complex in Costa Mesa California. From there it will be a week before they first don pads.
Until the pads go on, we will see the same type of practice as we did in minicamp. In that, all we can do is judge the quarterbacks by their timing, accuracy, and how much zip they have on their passes.
In minicamp last month, it was O’Connell who was struggling with his accuracy and Minshew who had no zip on his passes.
The hope early on for the Raiders is to see improvement in those areas as they have had over a month to dig into new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s playbook. But the true test, and therefor who pulls ahead in the competition will happen when they face an actual defense that is coming for them on every snap.
With no joint practices for the Raiders this season, the only defense O’Connell and Minshew will see is their own. Pierce thinks that will be enough.
“We feel really good about our defense,” said Pierce/ “And I think when you do have competition and you’re going against one another, that’s a great opportunity to showcase. So, regardless of the joint practices, the preseason games are going to take care of themselves, but we got 16 or so practices for these guys to go at it and compete like they’ve been doing all Spring and may the best man win.”
He may not be wrong about that. There have been times where that wasn’t the case. And one side of the ball got real confident before getting a rude awakening come the season. But the Raiders know what they have in this defense and the offense will have their work cut out for them.
“Just how comfortable they are with the system,” Pierce said of his defense. “Year three with Patrick Graham, the communication, the continuity, the ability to play with one another, to feel one another. They’re really gelling. Add Christian [Wilkins] in there, it’s like he was with us the last couple years. They got to keep picking it up. It’s the strength of our team, no reason to lie about it. They’re really good and they have to be good this year.”
As for when Pierce expects a decision to be made as to who the starting quarterback will be, he’s not putting a specific timeline on it. Saying simply “When it’s right. When it’s obvious. When it’s like a no-brainer. No need to rush it. But when it’s clear and it’s evident, then we’ll make that decision going forward.”
From this vantage point, Pierce isn’t fibbing or exaggerating. It was very unclear minicamp and that’s where we stand until further notice. That further notice starts tomorrow.