The Raiders want Aidan O’Connell to be their starting quarterback in 2024. That would be the best-case scenario for Las Vegas. And so far, it appears that O’Connell is taking his quarterback battle with Gardner Minshew seriously.
In a recent article by Vic Tafur of The Athletic, he answered several mailbag questions, including the state of the quarterback battle. In his discussion of the quarterbacks, Tafur mentioned that O’Connell is in much better shape heading into Year 2.
O’Connell had some momentum going during the team’s spring workouts, and maybe he can pick that up again when training camp starts. He can make all the throws and has a little swagger to him this year.
I don’t think the Raiders would’ve given Minshew $15 million guaranteed in March if they knew O’Connell was going to get in better shape and have a real air of confidence this spring. But they did, so we’re going to battle.
O’Connell is never going to be a great athlete, but it’s clear that he needed to drop some weight to add quickness in the pocket. He took too many sacks last year and needs to do a better job of moving around in the pocket to help out his offensive line.
It’ll be interesting to see how much better he looks in 2024 after getting better shape.
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