LAS VEGAS, Nevada (FOX5) — On Sunday, following a 27-12 preseason home loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce announced that Gardner Minshew has beaten out Aidan O’Connell and will start for the Raiders against the LA Chargers in the first week of the regular season.
“Gardner Minshew will be the starting quarterback in the 2024 season,” Pierce said. “Me, Tom Telesco and Luke Getsy talked about it this morning. There are a lot of things involved. It wasn’t based on last night. There are a lot of factors, so we believe Gardner gives us the best chance to get going quickly, and that’s what we’re doing. We support him, our teams behind him, our staff behind him, organizations behind him.”
The 28-year-old is entering his sixth season in the NFL, but this will be his first as a starter. Minshew, who signed a two-year, $25 million contract last March, had a completion percentage of under 50% in two preseason games, throwing for 212 yards and one touchdown.
“Experience, the process, the processing. The same things we saw in practice showed up in the games to some extent,” Pierce explained. “We can get better at a lot of things. I don’t think anything is a finished product here, but based on the first quarter of the season, we think Gardner Minshew gives us the best chance.”
“Yeah, well, first of all, he’s a loving person, his image is loving, his leadership is loving. Things to improve on, footwork in the pocket, sticking to the script. There’s something magical about him when he breaks out of the pocket and does his thing, but there are a lot of situations where when the first or second attempt is there, we have to go for it. So he understands that and more importantly, he cares about the football.”
Minshew has started 37 games in his NFL career, including 13 last season in which he led the Colts to a 7-6 record. O’Connell, who started 10 games for the Raiders in his rookie season in 2023, will now be Minshew’s backup.
“Both of those gentlemen are professionals. The way they handled that competition resonated throughout our building, especially with our staff and our team. They cheered each other on, they were good teammates. They got the best out of each other in practice and, I think, in games. They both took it like a champion. And I told them to both be ready. It’s the National Football League, you never know. But Aidan O’Connell is a young player with tremendous potential who I think will still be a starter at some point in this league, whether it’s this year or next year. But he’s going to play in games and I think Gardner’s Minshew did a good job of showing that older presence, you know, because he’s played in the league for a couple years and been through some adversity, so that’s been good for Aidan.”
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