Cardinals Sign Ex-Raiders QB to Replace Desmond Ridder

Getty Former Raiders QB Anthony Brown.

The Las Vegas Raiders recently poached Desmond Ridder off of the Arizona Cardinals practice squad, which left a hole for the team. They’ve decided to look to a former Raiders to replace the play they just lost to the Raiders.

According to ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss, Arizona is signing Anthony Brown to their practice squad.

Brown signed with the Raiders in January and spent the entire offseason with the team until he was cut in training camp. Las Vegas ultimately chose Carter Bradley to be QB3 over Brown and eventually went to the Buffalo Bills.

However, he lasted less than a week before getting cut. He’s been waiting around the first portion of the season but will now get a chance with the Cardinals. Kyler Murray is entrenched as the starter in Arizona so it’s unlikely Brown gets a chance to play this season but being able to stick on the roster for the rest of the year would be good news for him.

Can Desmond Ridder Become Raiders Starter?

The Raiders didn’t merely sign Ridder to sit on the bench. It’s likely that they will consider starting him in the near future.

For now, it’s likely Gardner Minshew’s job. Aidan O’Connell is on Injured Reserve and Minshew is playing very poorly so it probably won’t take much for the Raiders to make another quarterback change. Ridder is still young at 25 and could provide some upside. Plus, he had five rushing touchdowns last season so he adds a different element to the quarterback position.

The Raiders likely won’t start him against the Kansas City Chiefs this week but they could consider putting him in if Minshew continues to play poorly. If that happens, Ridder could be in line to start in Week 9 against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Gardner Minshew on Turnover Issues

Minshew has 10 turnovers this season, which is tied with Will Levis for most in the NFL. Considering he didn’t play in one game, that’s not a great statistic. Minshew has taken a lot of the blame for the Raiders’ offensive struggles.

“No, that’s on me man,” Minshew said during his October 20 press conference. “That’s unacceptable to have that many turnovers, I got to be smart with the ball. To have a game where we lose by five points and have four turnovers, that’s critical, and it’s not fair to the rest of the team. So, I’m going to go back, look at the film, not going to sulk, not going to pout, but whatever we got to do to fix it, I’m going to do it.”

This has been a frustrating year for Minshew so far and he’s having a hard time understanding what’s going wrong.

“Super frustrating, I’ve never turned the ball over like this in my life,” Minshew said. “It’s very frustrating so just got to keep looking at it, keep studying, keep training good habits, and we’re going to find our way out of this.”

If the turnover issues continue, Minshew might be taking many more snaps this season. He’s proven he can be a good player in the past but for some reason, it’s just not working in Las Vegas.