Raiders' Aidan O'Connell: Loses his starting spot

Raiders coach Antonio Pierce announced Sunday that Gardner Minshew will be the team’s starting quarterback over O’Connell to begin the 2024 season, Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com reports.

Pierce added during Sunday morning’s press conference that experience was ultimately the team’s deciding factor, stating that they “feel like [Minshew] gives us the best opportunity to hit the ground running,” according to Tashan Reed and Vic Tafur of The Athletic. O'Connell has more experience with the Raiders, starting 10 games in his rookie season in 2023, posting a 5-5 record and a 12:7 TD:INT ratio. But that's fewer than the 37 career starts of Minshew, who was also named to his first Pro Bowl with the Colts last year. It was clearly still a close race for the job this preseason. O'Connell performed relatively well in the first two test games, coming off the bench and completing 21 of 29 combined pass attempts for 176 yards and a touchdown, as well as an interception. It's also not out of the question that O'Connell could still have a chance to start this season if Minshew and the Raiders' offense struggle throughout the season. So it will be worth watching how the team performs in the Regular season opening game against the Chargers on September 8th.