Is Gardner Minshew ready to lead Raiders back to the playoffs?

After two preseason games, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce has named Gardner Minshew as the team’s starter heading into Week 1 of the regular season. Aidan O’Connell was thought to have the edge over Minshew after going 5-5 during last year’s rookie campaign.

“A lot of things went into it,” Pierce said on Sunday following Saturday’s preseason game against Dallas. “It wasn’t based off of last night. It was a lot of factors. We feel like Gardner gives us the best opportunity to get off to a fast start and that’s who we’re going with.”

Most fans feel like Minshew is the right choice and has earned the chance to be a starter far past these two preseason games. But is he ready to lead these Raiders back to the postseason? The Raiders haven’t qualified for the playoffs since 2021 and only made two appearances in the postseason since 2003.

While Minshew has spent a good part of his career as a backup since being drafted in the sixth round in 2019, he has seen his share of starts across three different franchises. Since entering the NFL, Minshew is 15-22 as QB1 while completing 62.6 percent of his passes for 9,937 yards.

For context, most of his playing time to this point came in Jacksonville during his rookie year and last year with Indianapolis. The Colts did go 7-6 with Minshew under center last season as he filled in for injured rookie first-round pick, Anthony Richardson.

Under the circumstances, Minshew played well last year as the Colts missed the playoffs with an overall record of 9-8. After a rough start last season, the Raiders turned things around to finish 8-9 under Pierce as interim head coach.

It won’t be a cakewalk in what’s supposed to be a beefed-up AFC West division. Of course, Kansas City will be tough, plus the Los Angeles Chargers under Jim Harbaugh are expected to be much better. The Denver Broncos are a bit of an X-factor as they could go with rookie Bo Nix as the starter heading into the season.

That division should be a dog fight all year and there will be times the Raiders need Minshew to go win a game by making one or two big plays. While Minshew won’t have former rushing champion Josh Jacobs in the backfield, he does still have one of the most lethal receiving weapons in the league with Davante Adams.

If Minshew and Adams can get on the same page along with Pierce’s defense holding up its end of the bargain, we could see Las Vegas make a strong push at the postseason.