The Las Vegas Raiders desperately needed a quarterback this offseason after a brutal 2024 campaign. A season that began with a competition between Aidan O'Connell and Gardner Minshew was dead on arrival, and Pete Carroll and John Spytek knew to remedy this immediately.
They released Minshew and reportedly shopped O'Connell during the NFL combine and leading up to the draft, but nothing materialized. With only sixth-round rookie Cam Miller potentially left to back up Geno Smith, many in Raider Nation felt that ultimately keeping O'Connell was a good insurance policy.
After all, O'Connell has appeared in 20 NFL games and has a 7-10 record as a starter since entering the league in 2023.