Has Raiders' O'Connell Been the Answer All Along?

The Las Vegas Raiders signed a quarterback in Gardner Minshew, but has Aidan O'Connell been the man for the Raiders quarterback issues all along?

Dec 29, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Aidan O'Connell (12) looks on against the New Orleans Saints during the second half at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

The Las Vegas Raiders have been projected to take a franchise ultering quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft all season. Now that their number one pick odds have seemingly vanished, there might not be a quarterback worthy enough to take the reigns for the Raiders.

Quarterback Aidan O'Connell has been the guy for the Raiders since Gardner Minshew fell to injury earlier this season. While playing in less games than he did in his rookie season, O'Connell has shown vast improvements and performed better than Minshew had in the few games he played for Las Vegas.

On the season, O'Connell has 130 completions in in 209 attempts, passing for 1,398 yards, throwing six touchdowns and obtaining a quarterback rating of 50.6. The numbers do not speak to how effective O'Connell has been this season, and gives a though to ponder for fans, how good he would have been if he landed the starting role earlier this year.

Injuries have always been an area of weakness for O'Connell's game, as he has fallen to two different kinds of injuries this season. Though dealing with two injuries, O'Connell has returned from both, and performed better. Leading the Raiders to two back to back wins this season, his last two games could be the reason he is in consideration for the starting role next season.

In the victories against the Jacksonville Jaguars and New Orleans Saints, O'Connell combined to throw 499 passing yards, throwing two touchdown passes, and had 44 completions. O'Connell's performance against the Saints gave him his second best quarterback rating of his season, ending the game with 89.3

O'Connell has not been given the role of starter for many games, but when he has, the Raiders seemed to be kept in the game. Parallel to last season, O'Connell will close out Las Vegas' season as the starting quarterback as he has continued to prove to be consistent.

If the Raiders can't land a game-changing quarterback in the draft, or sign an established leader in the offseason, O'Connell might just have to be the man to pencil in for the starting role. If anything, the Raiders 2025 should be focused on forwarding the rebuild, instead of rolling with the same crew.

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