The Las Vegas Raiders are one of the few teams in the league that has a legit quarterback battle going on before the 2024 regular season kicks off. They have Aidan O'Connell, who is going into his sophomore year, and played half of the season last year. And, of course, they signed Gardner Minshew this offseason, who is now on his fourth team and has won a handful of games in his career.
With O'Connell, he was thrown into the fire his rookie year. In his first game, he played when Jimmy Garoppolo was hurt, and was sacked six times by Khalil Mack alone against the Los Angeles Chargers. Then, he was made the starter when Josh McDaniels was fired and Antonio Pierce was made the interim head coach.
It was just an overall weird situation, and the last offseason was not a normal one for a rookie quarterback that starts nine games. This offseason is different.
"Every year presents a new challenge, this one is definitely different than last year," O'Connell said to the media on Wednesday. "The mentality has to stay the same, no matter if you're the starter or trying to compete, and that's what I'm trying to do."
Last offseason, O'Connell didn't have to worry about competing for the starting spot. He was competing with Brian Hoyer for the backup spot because Jimmy Garoppolo was guaranteed the starting spot based on the contract he was given.
This time around, he is competing with a guy who has started many games in this league, and almost had the Indianapolis Colts in the playoffs, due to a win he actually had over the Raiders.
"I think me and Gardner push each other," O'Connell continued. "Gardner is a guy who has had to compete a lot in his career, and I'm the same way, so we are both guys who it's not new to either of us, so I think it's been fun to go back and forth, talk about what we're thinking, and ultimately just try to, each of us, play our best football."
On Wednesday, the two of them, and everyone else, including rookies and veterans, showed up to the first official day of training camp . During 11-on-11's, both of them were good. Not one stood out more than the other in a bad or good way. In fact, the quarterback that impressed the most was Anthony Brown , more so because he had the best throw of the day.
So, that alone should tell you how close this battle will be. But, the two of them are just going to compete and the best man will win. Antonio Pierce is in no rush to decide who it should be. He has all of preseason and training camp to make the decision. So, it looks like we could be on the edge of our seats for this one for at least a few more weeks.
Related: Three position battles to watch during 2024 training camp for the Las Vegas Raiders
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