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The Las Vegas Raiders haven’t settled on a starting quarterback yet but early indications are suggesting it’s a close race between Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew. The former is a second-year pro who still has some upside while the latter is a veteran who has proven to be capable.
However, the Raiders may have expected the gap between O’Connell and Minshew to be a bit wider when they gave the latter a two-year, $25 million contract. According to The Athletic’s Vic Tafur, Las Vegas may not have given Minshew the money that they did had they known O’Connell would look the way he’s looked so far this offseason.
“O’Connell had some momentum going during the team’s spring workouts, and maybe he can pick that up again when training camp starts,” Tafur wrote in a July 2 mailbag. “He can make all the throws and has a little swagger to him this year. I don’t think the Raiders would’ve given Minshew $15 million guaranteed in March if they knew O’Connell was going to get in better shape and have a real air of confidence this spring. But they did, so we’re going to battle.”
It doesn’t sound like Minshew has done anything wrong, but if O’Connell ends up starting, he becomes an expensive backup. The Raiders likely could’ve used that money elsewhere.
Importance of Having Good Backup QB
The Raiders haven’t even started training camp yet so it’s still possible that Minshew could pull away from O’Connell for the starting job. Regardless, last year proved how important it is to have a solid backup quarterback. There were 66 different starting quarterbacks last season and many of them played due to the Week 1 starter getting injured.
Even if O’Connell cements himself as the starter and plays well, he’s not invincible. Minshew would provide the Raiders a very good backup in the event that O’Connell would have to miss any time. Yes, Las Vegas may have been able to go after a cheaper backup option but they still would still be able to win games if Minshew had to start.
Las Vegas Raiders QB Decision Could Be Delayed to Preseason
Tafur’s original comments don’t necessarily mean that O’Connell has the starting job locked down. It was more to illustrate that the two are so close right now that it may have been unnecessary to pay Minshew. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the quarterback competition could go on to the preseason.
“It could very well be a stipulation in July and August where they split preseason games, where O’Connell starts the first one, maybe Minshew starts the second, or they flip-flop,” Fowler said on the July 1 episode of “SportsCenter.” “That could very well be the scenario. This is a true battle. This will play out. You don’t see a lot of these in training camp most of the time. [The starting quarterback position is] usually rubber-stamped. This one will be pretty open. It looks like. O’Connell has made a good start.”
Once training camp starts, one quarterback may start to pull away but the race is very close for now. Starting O’Connell has to be appealing due to his upside but Minshew is a bit more proven. It’ll be a tough decision.
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