Silver And Black Pride
Aidan O’Connell has bounced up and down the Las Vegas Raiders’ depth chart pretty much from the moment he was drafted.
When the 2023 fourth-round pick was first added to the Raiders’ roster, he was the third-string quarterback behind Jimmy Garoppolo and Brian Hoyer. But after a strong preseason, while the other two quarterbacks struggled during the regular season and Josh McDaniels was eventually fired as head coach, O’Connell surpassed Garoppolo and Hoyer, making 10 starts as a rookie.
The Purdue product played well enough to post a 5-5 record as a starter but not good enough to be handed the job moving forward. So, the Raiders signed Gardner Minshew to compete with O’Connell in 2024, with the former winning the battle in training camp. However, Minshew struggled and Antonio Pierce turned to O’Connell in Week 6, only for the latter to suffer an injury two weeks later and have a stint on injured reserve.
Then, O’Connell spent all of last season as the third-stringer behind Geno Smith and Kenny Pickett, playing in just one game and for his third head coach in as many years, Pete Carroll, who was eventually fired.
Between bouncing back and forth between the top and bottom of the depht chart, and having going on four head coaches and seven offensive coordinators (inlcuding interims), the four-year pro has been through the wringer in Las Vegas.
“I joke that I had one play caller and one head coach my entire six years at Purdue, and so I think by the law of averages, I think something like this was coming my way,” O’Connell, after minicamp on June 10, said of the Raiders’ coaching turnover. “Obviously, didn’t expect it to be like this, but I’ve learned there are no wasted years in the NFL. Even when you’re losing, even when things are hard, you can still learn a lot. And I’ve learned a lot, even last year.
“I only played in our last game for three quarters but learned a bunch just sitting on the sideline and watching. And being able to interact with a lot of coordinators I think has been good for me to really learn what I like, to learn what I think is the best way to play quarterback, the best way to play football.
“…You can complain about it, [but] I really realize people really don’t care about that very much. Like people talk about a little bit having a lot of coordinators or coaches, but if I go out there and throw interceptions, no one’s really feeling bad for me. You got to produce in the NFL, and so besides my wife and my parents, no one’s really going to feel bad for me. So, I try to go out there and compete, no matter who’s calling plays or who’s out there.”
O’Connell certainly is taking the situation in stride and saying all the right things. But that doesn’t change the fact that the days of...
