The Las Vegas Raiders' quarterback competition between Aidan O'Connell and Gardner Minshew has been the main focus of the entire offseason and a decision on who gets the job could be coming soon.
After the team's first preseason game last week in which both quarterbacks played well, head coach Antonio Pierce revealed that the team hopes to make a decision following the preseason Week 2 game against the Dallas Cowboys.
“The goal will be to hopefully make a decision after the game this Saturday,” Pierce said, per Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We have to get ready to play football. We have enough film and we’ll have two games to evaluate both quarterbacks to see how they’ll play.”
While many believe Minshew emerged with a slight edge over O'Connell after the preseason opener, one NFL analyst and Raiders writer, Moe Moton, believes the latter would get the job if the decision was made today.
"A lot Gardner Minshew love on here, I get it," Moton wrote. "But if the Raiders had to make a decision today, I still think Aidan O’Connell would get the job. Just my opinion."
"I don’t think Gardner Minshew has done enough to take the job from the incumbent (Aidan O’Connell)," Moton added. "We’ll see how the Raiders approach it after the next preseason game."
While the book is already written on Minshew, O'Connell remains a wild card thanks to his having just one season under his belt.
Knowing that, there remains a chance that O'Connell could take a big leap in Year 2 and elevate the Raiders more than his veteran counterpart can. As a result, it only makes sense for the Raiders to see what they have in the young signal-caller before handing the keys to Minshew.
Both quarterbacks are expected to see a quarter of action once again in preseason Week 2. We'll see if either one can fully take the reins of the starting job, but if we emerge from that contest status quo, the Raiders should go with O'Connell to start the season.