Tag: Gardner Minshew

How to buy Los Angeles Chargers vs. Las Vegas Raiders NFL Week 1 tickets

Tickets are now available for the #Chargers home opener against the #Raiders. Get yours before they’re gone:

The Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers will kickoff their respective regular seasons with a Week 1 matchup on Sept. 8, 2024, at 4:05 p.m. at SoFi Stadium.

This opener features two teams from the same division, the AFC West, who have shaken things up this offseason.

Even though the season does not begin until September, only limited tickets remain for this first game in Los Angeles.

SHOP: Los Angeles Chargers vs. Las Vegas Raiders tickets

In terms of the Raiders, big offseason moves in the trenches were made such as the addition of Christian Wilkins. But is either Aiden O’Connell or Gardner Minshew really the answer at quarterback?

On the flip side, the Chargers do still have Justin Herbert under center. However, the true hope rests with new head coach Jim Harbaugh. Can he can the Bolts’ future?

Will the Raiders or Chargers take this divisional battle? Tickets for this contest start as low as $200.

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Raiders HC Antonio Pierce still waiting for QB to step up and say ‘I’m the guy’

Raiders still waiting for QB to step up and say ‘I’m the guy’

It’s been a slow process in the competition for the starting quarterback job for the Raiders. That process continues and it doesn’t look like the team is any closer to getting an idea of who will show themselves to be a the guy than they were a couple months ago.

Incumbent starter Aidan O’Connell has continued to take most of the first team reps. Veteran challenger Gardner Minshew has taken some snaps with the first team, but mostly he runs with the second team. But that doesn’t mean that’s where things will stay.

For O’Connell to cement himself as the number one guy, he would have to show a lot more than he has. And for Minshew to surpass him, he has to do more as well.

“I’d like to see…somebody to take it and say ‘I’m the guy, AP,” head coach Antonio Pierce said of the QB competition prior to Tuesday’s practice. “And make it clear, and evident and we’ll make that decision at that point.”

Pierce went on to say that what he is looking for is “somebody has to separate from the other.”

With that as his criteria, it didn’t appear as if either QB did that on the first day in pads. O’Connell had one good deep ball to Jakobi Meyers on a corner route and might have had a good pass on a go route to Davante had he not been interfered with. While Minshew had a few nice mid-range passes over the middle to Brock Bowers, Kristian Fulton, and DJ Turner.

Neither of them were able to get anything going consistently. Outside of those two passes, O’Connell was way off with his throws and Minshew may have gotten things going on one drive late in practice, but it was second team vs second team. And we didn’t see much of that in practice leading up to it.

We are approaching the halfway point of camp in terms of actual practices. There are 11 on-field practices in total in Costa Mesa. Though pads just went on today for the first time and so the final six practices will have ramped up intensity.

A lot is made of the first day in pads, and rightfully so. While the coaches would probably like the QB competition to be settled by now, there is still six more padded camp practices and then a few more weeks of practices back in Vegas to figure it out.

What you hope to see very soon, however, is some semblance of one of the guys putting things together and making a statement with his play that he can be the guy. So long as neither has done that, even for a single practice, it’s a bit concerning.

Raiders training camp Day 5 report: Offense fails to step up first day in pads

It may have been a change of play style for the Raiders camp, but who controlled things remained the same. The defense continued to dominate. I asked Antonio Pierce prior to practice who he expects will benefit the most from pads going on, and he …

It may have been a change of play style for the Raiders camp, but who controlled things remained the same. The defense continued to dominate.

I asked Antonio Pierce prior to practice who he expects will benefit the most from pads going on, and he said the offense without question. And he brought in a special guest last night to try and get them pumped up for it.

“If I had to predict today, I think the offensive line is going to get after it,” said Pierce. “Richie Incognito talked to the team last night. It was pretty intense. Whatever you think he said, he said.”

The offensive line certainly came out with intensity. In the early going, Andrus Peat pancake blocked Tyree Wilson to the turf. And midway through practice Thayer Munford injured his hand on a play, only to get it wrapped up and return to the field a bit later.

As far as how the rest of the offense performed, it was…not great.

The talk the offense had been doing prior to today was that of ‘just wait until pads go on.’ Well pads were on and thus far they have not backed up their words.

No question the Raiders have a very good defense. It shows for sure. But the issues with the offense go well beyond the quality of defense they’re facing.

Mostly it continues to be the quarterback play that plagues the offensive play for the Raiders in camp. The passes are just not getting to the receivers consistently.

I could count on one hand how many solid completions there were on the day. O’Connell had one good connection on a deep corner route to Jakobi Meyers.

Other than that it was a whole lotta bad for the offense.

The defense was flying around, swarming, and jawing all day long.

The closest Davante Adams came to making a play was a pass that looked like it might get there, but he had his jersey tugged on, drawing a pass interference call. And Tre Tucker simply could not get open.

Play after play, Tucker had a defender on his hip. Sometimes it was Jakorian Bennett, sometimes it was Nate Hobbs, and once it was Jack Jones. But it didn’t matter. The result was the same. Incomplete.

It wasn’t until the final drive of the day that the offense got anything going at all. It was Gardner Minshew running the offense. Kristian Fulton had a leaping grab over the middle, then DJ Turner caught one on a cross, and finally Minshew found Alex Bachman on an out to put the team at the 18 for a field goal. It was a relative positive in a day without much before that.

For the defense’s part, they were fired up and stopping everything, including the ground game. Adam Butler had a couple stops and he was sure to let the offense know on each of them, barking at them and running into the backfield to taunt them. Christian Wilkins did some dancing and talking as well.

The one thing you didn’t see much of were turnovers. There were two fumbled handoffs, one between O’Connell and Zamir White and the other between Anthony Brown and Brittain Brown. Jack Jones nearly had a pick on an ugly O’Connell pass after he was basically sacked by Maxx Crosby.

Raiders camp Day 3: Red zone drills see early QB flashes before defense shut it down

Raiders camp Day 3: Red zone drills see early QB flashes before defense shut it down

Three days are now in the books for the Raiders. And for the quarterbacks there hasn’t been a whole lot to celebrate.

A rough day two on Thurday seemed to rebound with some nice looking passes to begin Friday’s practice. But it wouldn’t last.

The first team sessions saw Aidan O’Connell throw a couple of nice looking passes to Jakobi Meyers. Though, the first may not have actually gotten off in an actual game, the pass itself was perfectly placed to Meyers in the back of the end zone with Meyers climbing the ladder to get it.

The very next play, O’Connell found Meyers again on a crossing pattern for another score. A bit later, in one-on-ones, O’Connell found Meyers a couple more times, with Meyers getting the better of Jack Jones on both passes.

After leading the team with eight touchdown catches last season, Meyers has become a serious red zone threat for the Raiders.

“That’s probably the most important,” Meyers said of the red zone. “That’s the toughest part of the field. Less space, less time. If we can capitalize in the red zone, we’ll be a much better team.”

He also found Brock Bowers, who leapt over a defender to make the catch over the middle.

Then Gardner Minshew came in and twice found Harrison Bryant for touchdowns.

It was a welcome sight to see the offense have some success against this offense. I say was, because that’s where it ended. From there on out, it was back to being all defense.

Jack Jones would knock down consecutive passes for Jakobi Meyers and Davante Adams. The one to Adams looked like it might be a touchdown, but Jones punched it out. Then a few plays later, Maxx Crosby got pressure on the right side, causing O’Connell to throw up a duck that Jones got under for the interception.

Isaiah Pola Mao got into the act too, streaking over to the left sideline to pick off O’Connell. And Jones batted down another pass from O’Connell to Adams.

“That’s one thing that PG [Patrick Graham] has been stressing to us that we got to improve our red zone defense this year,” said safety Marcus Epps. “He’s been putting a lot of attention and energy into it and we’ve been doing the same. We understand that’s an area we need to improve, so it’s something we’ve made a point of emphasis.”

Practice ended on consecutive plays from inside the five that saw the defensive line snuff out the offense, one a run stop and the other Christian Wilkins knifing into the backfield to make the sack.

I suppose at least even if it fell apart, that there was some early success. Maybe something to build upon in the hopes that at some point we can say the offense got the better of the defense overall. That has yet to happen and it only figures to get more difficult once pads go on.

Antonio Pierce confident Raiders strong defense will help decide starting QB battle

Raiders QB battle figures to be decided through facing tough defense each day in camp

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.

Raiders named biggest losers from 2024 offseason

Raiders named biggest losers from 2024 offseason

The Raiders set out to improve their trenches this offseason and it appears they accomplished that goal. They re-signed Andre James and added Jackson Powers-Johnson in the second round of the draft. They also signed Christian Wilkins to a big deal, giving them a dynamic interior pass rusher for the first time in ages.

But one thing they did not accomplish was finding their next franchise quarterback. The Raiders did add Gardner Minshew, but he is a stop-gap player who certainly won’t go toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes in the AFC West. And for that reason, it’s fair to be critical of their offseason moves.

In a recent article by Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report, he named the Raiders as the biggest losers from the 2024 offseason after failing to adequately upgrade their quarterback position. Here is a snippet of what he had to say about their moves this year:

The Raiders are heading into training camp with sophomore signal-caller Aidan O’Connell and free-agent signing Gardner Minshew. Some within the Raiders’ fanbase are enamored with the flashes O’Connell showed as a rookie, and Minshew “earned” a Pro Bowl berth last season. But let’s not kid ourselves here.

O’Connell lacks functional mobility, and Minshew has terrible pocket presence and marginal arm talent. They’re both overachievers relative to their draft slots—they were fourth- and sixth-round picks, respectively—but good stories don’t make quality starting options.

The Raiders would have loved to grab their quarterback of the future, but it was clear that they weren’t interested in moving up for Michael Penix, Bo Nix, or J.J. McCarthy. Jayden Daniels was the rumored target, but there was just no conceivable way that they were going to be able to move up to No. 2 to acquire him.

Is it disappointing that the Raiders didn’t add a young quarterback? The answer is obviously yes. But that doesn’t mean the offseason was a failure by any stretch. If the Raiders perform poorly in 2024, you can bet they will be far more aggressive in targeting a quarterback in the 2025 offseason than they were this year.

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Were the Raiders not aggressive enough in finding their next QB this offseason?

Were the Raiders not aggressive enough in finding their next QB this offseason?

The Raiders would have loved to find their next franchise quarterback this offseason. It was their biggest weakness going into the spring and it remains their biggest weakness now. But unfortunately, things just didn’t fall right for them at that position this year.

The Raiders signed Gardner Minshew as a bridge quarterback and were hopeful that the right quarterback would fall to them at No. 13. But with six quarterbacks being picked in the top 12, that didn’t happen.

In a recent article by Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report, he wrote about the five biggest offseason regrets around the NFL. That list included the Raiders not being more aggressive in finding their next franchise quarterback. Here is a snippet of his thoughts on the passive approach by the Raiders this offseason:

Six quarterbacks were taken with the top 12 picks of the draft. The Raiders picked 13th. Kirk Cousins and Russell Wilson moved teams as veterans. The Raiders wound up with Gardner Minshew II.

The Raiders are otherwise quite talented, but instead of investing in draft or market maneuvers to land a quarterback with an elite ceiling, they stood pat and went super conservative at the sport’s most critical position.

Gagnon believes the Raiders should have traded up inside the top 10 of the NFL Draft prior to that weekend, giving them a better shot of landing Michael Penix Jr. or J.J. McCarthy. Instead, they stood pat and watched all of the other quarterback prospects come off the board.

Time will tell if the Raiders made a mistake by not being more aggressive in targeting a quarterback this offseason. But it’s not hard to look back in hindsight and wonder if the Raiders should have done more in this area.

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Fantasy football forecast: Las Vegas Raiders TE Brock Bowers

Is he the next rookie TE1 breakout to draft?

The conventional wisdom coming into the 2024 draft was the Las Vegas Raiders were going to get involved in the frenzy of drafting quarterbacks. That plan became moot when six teams selected a QB in front of the Raiders at Pick 13.

With the top quarterbacks gone, the Raiders chose the best athlete available, Georgia tight end Brock Bowers. A year after selecting tight end Michael Mayer in the second round of the ’23 draft, the Raiders reportedly spurned trade offers to move out of the spot because they believe so strongly in his ability.

In 40 games at Georgia, Bowers caught 175 passes for 2,538 yards and 26 touchdowns, being named a First Team All-American in each of his three seasons. He possesses a rare combination of speed, route running, and pass-catching ability, and the hype train has already picked up speed. The Raiders are talking a big game — but is it legitimate?

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The numbers would suggest it will be difficult for Bowers to make a significant immediate impact. In the last 20 drafts, these tight ends have been taken in the first round: Dalton Kincaid, Kyle Pitts, T.J. Hockenson, Noah Fant, Hayden Hurst, O.J. Howard, Evan Engram, David Njoku, Eric Ebron, Tyler Eifert, Jermaine Gresham, Brandon Pettigrew, Dustin Keller, Greg Olsen, Vernon Davis, Marcedes Lewis and Heath Miller.

Every one of them came to the NFL as a phenomenal talent, viewed more as a wide receiver than a typical professional tight end. The NFL levels that playing field quickly. Only four of the players listed above (Kincaid, Pitts, Engram and Fant) had more than 550 receiving yards as a rookie. Those are daunting numbers Bowers is up against.

Fantasy football outlook

The elephant in the room in Vegas is that the quarterback who will make Bowers a fantasy star isn’t on the current roster. Second-year man Aidan O’Connell took a beating last season, and veteran Gardner Minshew has had his moments, but he’s on his fourth team in five years for a reason.

The Raiders have a defense good enough to win games. All they’re asking is for their offense not to make critical mistakes in games that can be won. The loss of running back Josh Jacobs takes away the focal point of the offense, but the ground game is clearly going to remain an offensive priority, which doesn’t help Bowers.

For a team that scored 21 or fewer points in 13 of 17 games last year, expecting a breakout passing game from the Raiders is asking a lot. Keep in mind Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers and Mayer are still there. Bowers will have big individual weeks, but consistency will be hard to achieve as a rookie in the current scenario.

Bowers is viewed as one of the greatest tight end prospects in 20 years, and he could buck the trend of slow starts. The current point-per-reception ADP ranking has him as a back-end TE1. His talent will have Bowers owners playing him as a No. 1 every week to chase monster games. Fantasy managers have been doing that with Pitts for three years, and there have been more disappointing weeks than not.

If you can get Bowers as a TE2 in a 12-team league, jump at it. If he is your TE1, the weekly ebbs and flows will be hard to handle.

Davante Adams: Raiders QB1 job is Aidan O’Connell’s to lose

Davante Adams: Raiders QB1 job is Aidan O’Connell’s to lose

There is a full on QB competition happening in Las Vegas. The battle is between second year man Aidan O’Connell and journeyman veteran Gardner Minshew. And from the vantage point of the team’s number one receiver, the job belongs to O’Connell’s to lose.

The All Pro receiver appeared on FS1 this week where he said his starting QB last year has the inside track on the job, at least for now.

Adams noted that he “doesn’t have a preference” as to who ultimately gets to nod to get him the ball, just that he wants that person to be “confident and ready to go.”

But he added that as he sits right now, that O’Connell has the job because “he was here before.” and that will remain “until Gardner comes in and takes the job away from him, I think it’s Aidan’s job right now.”

O’Connell has been running with the first team throughout the offseason with Minshew running with the second team. But come training camp, Minshew should be more acclimated to the offense and his new teammates which will be the true test as to whether O’Connell can continue to hold him off.

Why Brock Bowers could be much more explosive for the Raiders than he was in college

Brock Bowers was amazing in college. But the Raiders’ rookie tight end has a ton of unexplored potential as a downfield weapon.

The Raiders selected Georgia tight end Brock Bowers with the 13th overall pick in the first round of the 2024 draft because Bowers was a major force for one of the NCAA’s best offenses over the last three seasons. And in conjunction with 2023 second-round pick Michael Mayer from Notre Dame, the Raiders and new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy has the potential for one of the NFL’s better 12 personnel passing games.

Here’s the thing — as great as Bowers was in college, and some have called him a “generational” prospect — he wasn’t utilized as a downfield weapon. Not nearly enough. Per Pro Football Focus, Bowers had just nine targets last season on passes of 20 or more air yards, catching three for 98 yards and a touchdown.

The deep pass wasn’t a prominent part of Georgia’s passing game last season; Carson Beck attempted just 54 passes of 20 or more air yards last season, which ranked 43rd in the NCAA. Beck completed 22 of those passes for 729 yards, five touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 103.5.

So, seeing Bowers as an explosive weapon in an NFL passing game requires a bit of projection. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to do when you see the few times Bowers was able to stretch the field when he was allowed.

Tight ends are expected to win against Cover-3 with these kinds of seam openings, and against Auburn in Week 5 last season, Bowers did just that.

“Brock’s a unique guy,” Getsy said in May. “I think it’s been said here plenty of times, he was probably the best player in the SEC for some time, and he won a bunch of games. Anytime you can bring that type of caliber player into your organization, you’re going to get better.

“And then you match him and you pair him with the talent that we already have here, I think that just makes you more dynamic.”

Now, imagine Gardner Minshew throwing Bowers the ball on third down. The Raiders’ new proposed starting quarterback isn’t anyone’s idea of a top-five quarterback in the NFL, but Minshew can sling it deep. Last season for the Colts as Anthony Richardson’s injury replacement, Minshew attempted 20 deep passes on 51 targets for 715 yards, three touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 81.9.

Overall, Minshew was good for 32 explosive passes, and this example of throwing receiver Alec Pierce open against those very Raiders in Week 17 shows another way to beat vulnerable coverage with the right kind of deep-third concept.

And if it’s Aidan O’Connell throwing the ball for the Raiders, it’s good to remember that O’Connell had five touchdown passes on deep throws in his rookie season of 2023.

So, don’t be surprised if Brock Bowers, as great as he was in college, brings some heretofore unseen ability as a downfield weapon. And wouldn’t that be a huge get for the Raiders’ new offense?