The Las Vegas Raiders are one of a handful of teams that have a quarterback competition in training. Interestingly enough, both of these quarterbacks played in a significant number of games last season.
Gardner Minshew signed with the Raiders this offseason after having a great 2023 season with the Indianapolis Colts. Meanwhile, Aidan O’Connell is trying to retain the starting job after having a surprisingly good rookie season last year.
So, which quarterback is head coach Antonio Pierce leaning toward? Well, Pierce seems to be keeping that to himself. However, he did reveal the quarterback plans for the first two preseason games.
Both Quarterbacks Getting Playing Time in First Preseason Game

According to Paul Gutierrez of ESPN, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce revealed that both quarterbacks will get playing time in the team’s first preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings. Minshew and O’Connell will each play a quarter in that game according to Pierce. However, he has not decided which quarterback is going to start in that game.
On top of this, Gutierrez asked which quarterback would start the second game of the preseason. Pierce revealed that whoever does not start in this week’s game would start in the second game of the preseason. In other words, both quarterbacks will get plenty of opportunities to show Pierce what they are made of during the preseason.
Gardner Minshew vs. Aidan O’Connell

Both of these quarterbacks have a compelling case to get the starting job. Minshew nearly led the Colts to the playoffs last season once Anthony Richardson suffered a season-ending injury. As for O’Connell, he stepped in for Jimmy Garoppolo when the Raiders got off to a slow start last season. He kept the team afloat, going 5-5 as a starting quarterback.
Minshew had more passing yards and touchdown passes than O’Connell last season. However, if O’Connell started for the entire 2023 season, he would have been on pace to pass Minshew in both categories.
Las Vegas Raiders Moving Forward
The Las Vegas Raiders are hoping for more stability and to take a step in the right direction in 2024. They now have a permanent head coach in Antonio Pierce, after succeeding as the interim head coach in the second half of the season. Las Vegas came up two games shy of making the playoffs last season. Now, the team hopes their starting quarterback helps them overcome this in 2024.
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