For just the second time in his career and the first time since 2020, Gardner Minshew will be a Week 1 starter.
Minshew has been named the Las Vegas Raiders’ starting quarterback by head coach Antonio Pierce, three weeks ahead of the team’s season opener at the Los Angeles Chargers.
Minshew prevailed in the Raiders’ quarterback competition against second-year QB Aidan O’Connell, who finished his rookie campaign as the team’s starter over the last nine games.
In two preseason games, including Las Vegas’ Week 2 loss against the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday night, Minshew completed 16 of 33 passes for 212 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. In comparison, O’Connell was 21 of 29 for 172 yards, one TD and one INT.
“Myself, [general manager Tom] Telesco and [offensive coordinator] Luke Getsy discussed it this morning. A lot of things went into it. It wasn’t based off of last night, there’s a lot of factors.” Pierce said. “We feel like Gardner gives us the best opportunity to get off to a fast start, and that’s what we’re going with. We support him, our team’s behind it, our staff’s behind it, our organization’s behind it.”
Going strictly by salary, Minshew ending up atop the depth chart isn’t unexpected. Now with his fourth NFL team, Minshew inked a two-year, $25 million contract this offseason to join the Silver and Black. O’Connell, a 2023 fourth-round pick, is due $915,000 in base salary this year.
O’Connell started 10 games in total last year, given the starting spot by Pierce for the remainder of the season over Jimmy Garoppolo following then-head coach Josh McDaniels’ ousting. O’Connell was given ample chance to retain the QB1 spot this year because he had “earned” the chance to compete.
There’s obviously no guarantee we’ve seen the last of O’Connell as a Raiders starter, but the 28-year-old Minshew has the gig for now.
Minshew and perhaps more accurately, Minshew Mania, garnered notice in the Washington State product’s 2019 rookie season. He filled in admirably for an injured Nick Foles and became the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Week 1 starter the following season.
Whether he got a fair shot or not is debatable, but the Jags struggled mightily en route to finishing last in the NFL, which led to the Trevor Lawrence era. Now, Minshew is coming off a 2023 campaign in which he started a career-high 13 games for the Indianapolis Colts, whom he kept in the playoff hunt until the final week of the season. He earned his first Pro Bowl selection for his efforts.
Over five seasons with the Jaguars, Philadelphia Eagles and Colts, Minshew has started 37 games, posting a 15-22 record and having shown he can lead an offense when called on, particularly in a pinch. The Raiders are hoping he can improve upon a 27th-ranked offense a year ago.
And so it goes that Minshew Mania is coming to Vegas, as one of the NFL’s most endearing free spirits has been given the starting reins for the Silver and Black.
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