Aidan O'Connell staying level with Gardner Minshew in Raiders' quarterback battle

What It Means

Reed noted that neither quarterback has particularly excelled against the Raiders' defense so far this summer, but that the duo have split the first-team reps down the middle throughout their early offseason program. O'Connell took over as the team's starting quarterback down the stretch of the 2023 season, but will now battle against Minshew for the Week 1 starting gig over the rest of the summer.

O'Connell finished his rookie season ranked 26th in adjusted yards per attempt (6.2), just barely behind the more-seasoned Minshew's 23rd-ranked 6.5 adjusted yards per attempt mark with the Indianapolis Colts. Neither was a particularly effective quarterback, but each led offenses that produced fantasy-relevant players at points of the season.

While the fantasy fates of teammates like Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers, and Brock Bowers may now rest on O'Connell's and Minshew's shoulders, neither quarterback is expected to produce much fantasy value on their own. The projections at numberFire have them finishing with a combined 236.5 FanDuel points this year, which would rank as the QB28 overall.