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If the Raiders signed Gardner Minshew to be a bridge quarterback, one of the issues that cropped up in the bizarre way the 2024 NFL draft fell is that we have no idea what Minshew will be a bridge to. That’s because the team’s depth chart as it stands has only Minshew and last year’s starter, Aidan O’Connell, as the two options to start in Las Vegas.
Apologies, of course, to Carter Bradley, who signed by the team as an undrafted free agent and could very well secure a spot on the practice squad but has little chance of getting on the NFL field this season.
So it will be Minshew and O’Connell and … then what? Well, there is always the 2025 NFL draft, which is not expected to have nearly the talent level of 2024, when six picks—six!—of the first 12 were used on quarterbacks. We will never know whether the Raiders would have picked Michael Penix Jr. or Bo Nix at No. 13 because neither of them were still around at that point.
It’s fair to criticize the Raiders for not adding a quarterback in 2024, until you take a look at how the board shook out in the first round.
Carson Beck, 2024 Heisman Winner?
And there is always 2025. At The 33rd Team, in what the site is acknowledging as ahead of its time, the Raiders do address the quarterback spot next year at this time. In an article titled, “Way-Too-Early 2025 NFL Mock Draft: Who Is Next Year’s Top QB?” the Raiders are predicted to scoop up Georgia star Carson Beck.
Marcus Mosher of the site wrote: “Carson Beck got hot down the stretch for Georgia, and everything points to him being one of the top quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL Draft. In his first full season as a starter, he completed more than 72 percent of his passes and averaged 9.5 yards per attempt. It’ll be fascinating to see how he develops during the 2024 season.”
Beck is not a youngster by any stretch. He has been kicking around Athens for four years, where he did warrant playing time on the Bulldogs’ two national championship teams and was a teammate of Raiders primary running back Zamir White.
He threw for 3,491 yards in 14 games last year, and completed 24 touchdown passes against just six interceptions, and is an early favorite to win the 2024 Heisman Trophy.
Raiders QBs Can Be Conservative and Win
In the meantime, the Raiders will hold down the fort with Minshew and O’Connell, each of whom could be good enough to lead the team to the playoffs after a strong finish to last year showed that this team can win with defense and a strong running attack.
Still, it’s also a bunch that has Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers as the primary receivers. We’ll want to see the passing game get some highlights. The jury is still out on whether O’Connell can be that guy, but he did have an outstanding effort in Week 16, when he threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns against no interceptions, probably the best game of his rookie season.
Of course, on the other side of that game was Minshew, playing for the Colts and leading a conservative offensive approach—he completed 15 of 23 passes for 224 yards and a touchdown, and let running back Jonathan Taylor (93 yards) do the bulk of the work.
Minshew got the W, a crucial game in KO-ing the Raiders’ playoff hopes. But he’s a Raider now, and his conservative approach is fine, as long as there are Ws at the end.
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