The Las Vegas Raiders will be turning back to Aidan O’Connell under center this weekend. The Raiders will re-insert O’Connell into the lineup in the wake of Gardner Minshew’s season-ending shoulder injury, according to NFL Media,
O’Connell has been out since Week 7 after suffering a fractured thumb early in the team’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams. He has been sidelined for each of the last four games while Desmond Ridder served as Minshew’s backup. Ridder closed the game for the Raiders this past weekend against the Broncos, but O’Connell returned to practice Monday and will apparently be ready to go for the Raiders’ Black Friday game against the division rival Kansas City Chiefs.
In four games (two starts) this season, O’Connell went 52 of 82 (63.4%) for 455 yards (5.6 per attempt), 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. The Raiders lost all four games, with the first two being blowouts where he appeared in mop-up duty behind Minshew.
O’Connell made 10 starts during his rookie season, with the Raiders going 5-5 in those games — including a surprising Christmas Day win over the Chiefs. O’Connell went just 9 of 21 for 62 yards in that game, though, with Vegas securing a win thanks largely to a pair of defensive touchdowns in a seven-second span in the second quarter.
O’Connell was beaten out by Minshew for the starting role in a preseason competition, but will now have a chance to prove himself over the final six weeks of this year. At age-26, he is surprisingly old for a second-year player, but if he shows well he could play himself into a long-term job as a backup, which at this point seems to be his ceiling as a player.
