Breaking: LA Raiders are closing in on a deal to sign $86.3 million QB ‘Tom Telesco assures’
The Las Vegas Raiders were one of the teams that many analysts, including Newsweek Sports, assumed were going to make a move to select a quarterback in the draft. The 2024 NFL Draft came and went, and nothing substantial was done in the current quarterback room in terms of rookie talent.
The Raiders did bring in free agent Gardner Minshew earlier in the offseason, who showed flashes of brilliance in the 2023 season with the Indianapolis Colts. But he may not be a long-term answer. Minshew will be on his fourth team, and while journeymen quarterbacks are not a rarity, they are journeymen for a reason.
The Raiders also have Aiden O’Connell, who, like Minshew, showed some poise in the pocket in 2023. Still, neither O’Connell nor Minshew appear to be the franchise quarterback the team truly needs.
Raiders general manager Tom Telesco recently went on NFL Total Access, where he discussed the team’s quarterback situation. Telesco told Mike Yam that the team is plenty happy with their current crop of quarterback talent.
“That’s the plan is to have both those guys really compete through the offseason program, but more so in training camp, and we’ll see how it plays out,” Telesco said. “I thought Aidan did an excellent job last year in a really difficult situation where the head coach changed, the coordinator changed, and he played really good football down the stretch. I’ve had a chance to be around him a little bit more in the building and you kind of see the quarterback intangibles that are there, which is nice to have, that you have to have as a franchise quarterback.”
“Down the stretch” is a bit of a stretch, itself. O’Connell finished the final three games with a 50.3 passer rating on Dec. 25 against the Chiefs, a 96.0 passer rating on Dec. 31 against the Colts, and a 110.1 passer rating against the Broncos on Jan. 7. His best of the three came against the Colts, where he threw for 299 passing yards and two touchdowns.
O’Connell was thrown into the proverbial fire as a rookie, so he can be given the benefit of the doubt for having a decent first season. Still, the Raiders are taking a big risk by allowing him to potentially be the starter moving forward.
