Listen to two Raiders fans discuss the team’s prospects for the 2024 season and the conversation will eventually find its way to the quarterback position. There is not much to be said for the looming battle between Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew to be the starter other than the Raiders can save time by flipping a coin.
No can blame the Raiders for being gun shy about drafting a quarterback. They got it right in 2014 by selecting Derek Carr in the second round. They got it wrong in 2007 (JaMarcus Russell), 2013 (Tyler Wilson) and 2016 (Connor Cook). The jury is still out on O’Connell, who went from a fourth-round pick in 2023 to starting.
Russell was a colossal bust after being the first overall pick and vanished after three seasons. The 38-year-old made news in June when he was fired after six years a volunteer assistant at his alma mater, Williamson High School in Mobile, Ala., after allegedly pocketing a $74,000 check that was a donation to the school.
One fan offered his evaluation of O’Connell during the conversation by saying “I thought he did pretty good.” O’Connell started five games in 2023 and compiled a passer rating of 83.9, which was “pretty good” enough to rank 25th in the NFL. Minshew was slightly better in his 13 starts with the Colts, ranking 23rd at 84.6.
Brock Purdy had the NFL’s highest passer rating in 2023 at 133.0 in his first full season as the 49ers starter. That followed his 107.3 rating in 2022 after replacing Jimmy Garoppolo, who went from a 103.0 rating in his last year with the 49ers to 77.7 in 2023 after signing a three-year, $72.75 million contract with the Raiders.
Quarterback was among the top needs for the Raiders in April’s draft, but they signed Minshew a month earlier. They might have anticipated the marquee quarterbacks would be gone by the time they made the 13th pick. Six quarterbacks were off the board by then with Bo Nix going to the Broncos at No. 12.
Quarterback, offensive tackle and cornerback were widely considered to be the Raiders’ top needs. Tackles Joe Alt and Olu Fashanu were gone, but Taliese Fuaga was available. The Raiders had their choice of cornerbacks because none went in the first 12 picks. But the Raiders being the Raiders, they selected a tight end.
Drafting Brock Bowers makes sense if the Raiders were adhering to the “best available player” strategy even though Bowers might have been just the best tight end on the board. Picking a tight end in the first round made no sense, however, after the Raiders used a second-round pick to get one (Michael Mayer) last year.
That is akin to the Giants selecting catcher Patrick Bailey in the first round two years after taking Joey Bart with the No. 2 overall pick in 2018. Bart was designated for assignment in April and then traded him to the Pirates for pitcher Austin Strickland, who was an eighth-round pick in 2023. Talk about depreciation.
The Giants might have already realized that Bart would not be their catcher of the future when they drafted Bailey. The Raiders might have had similar thoughts about O’Connell when they signed Minshew to a two-year, $25 million contract with $15 million guaranteed. They cannot afford Minshew being just a backup..
Minshew earned $3.5 million with the Colts in 2023 as the 36th highest paid quarterback in the NFL. The Colts could have re-signed him in case Anthony Richardson is not ready to go after undergoing shoulder injury in October, but it is hard to believe they would have come anywhere close to the Raiders’ offer.
The Raiders have made their bed with Minshew and O’Connell. Hopefully it will be comfortable because the Raiders are in store for a few restless nights.
