Getty Las Vegas Raiders QB Aidan O'Connell.
The Las Vegas Raiders have a completely new crop of quarterbacks heading into the 2023 season. Derek Carr was the starter for nine consecutive years and has been replaced by Jimmy Garoppolo.
Despite the fact that Carr is the all-time franchise leader in passing yards (35,222) and passing touchdowns (217), the team already gave his No. 4 jersey number away to rookie fourth-round pick Aidan O’Connell. However, he came out and made it clear that it was the number that was assigned to him and not one that he chose.
“It was the number that was given to me,” O’Connell said during his August 9 media availability. “I really don’t care what number I play with. I’ll play with any number. I don’t worry too much about that.”
Seeing another quarterback wearing No. 4 could take some getting used to for fans. Carr wore the number for so long and took the vast majority of snaps at quarterback for a nine-year stretch. That said, the Raiders don’t retire numbers and never have. Carr never won a playoff game with the team so he wouldn’t be a candidate to be the first Raider to get his number retired.
Aidan O’Connell Finding Josh McDaniels’ Offense Challenging
It remains to be seen if Aidan O’Connell is the future starting quarterback for the Raiders. His main focus right now should be beating out Brian Hoyer for the backup spot. Considering the complexity of Josh McDaniels’ offense scheme, it’s better to take their time with O’Connell. He admitted that it hasn’t been easy learning the offense.
“It’s been challenging,” O’Connell said of McDaniels’ offense. “It’s a lot of new things at the line of scrimmage that I wasn’t used to doing in college, and so it’s a lot more responsibility. But I think you’re able to see the game in a new perspective, and that responsibility is pretty cool. … It’s definitely been a learning curve, but it’s been pretty fun.”
Both Jimmy Garoppolo and Hoyer are quarterbacks who have played in McDaniels’ system in the past. He has been looking to them for help as he continues to learn.
“They’ve been super supportive,” O’Connell said of Hoyer and Garoppolo. “They’ve challenged me. They’ve let me into their mind, really, to know what they’re thinking and what their thought process is on each play. They’ve both been in the system before and have had success, so it’s been awesome having those guys in the room to learn from them.”
Aidan O’Connell Trying to Limit Mistakes
If Aidan O’Connell can develop into a solid backup, that would mean he was a solid draft pick for the Raiders. There isn’t a lot of pressure on him to become a star. He’s had some rough moments in training camp thus far but he’s simply trying to play as cleanly as possible right now.
“Nobody’s perfect, even guys that have been doing it for a while,” O’Connell said. “I’m just trying to work as hard as possible to limit mistakes to make sure I know what I’m doing on every play and what everybody else’s responsibility is. You’ve just got to prepare to give yourself the best chance possible. Mistakes come, you learn from them and try to move on.”