The Las Vegas Raiders finally decided to go with Gardner Minshew II as the team’s starting quarterback to open the upcoming season.
Minshew has thrown for nearly 10,000 yards during his five seasons in the league and has played admirably for three teams. Minshew has spent time as a backup and a starting quarterback in the National Football League. He was successful in both positions.
The Raiders experienced firsthand how talented of a quarterback Minshew was last season during a 20-23 loss to Minshew and the Indianapolis Colts. Minshew would finish the game against the Raiders with a nearly 123 quarterback rating against a Raiders defense that was one of the best in the league over the final nine games of last season.
Minshew’s productive game came one week after the Raiders defense shut down Patrick Mahomes and the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Raiders general manager Tom Telesco and coach Antonio Pierce decided to bring in Minshew earlier this offseason to push second-year quarterback Aidan O’Connell for the starting position, ultimately winning it after the Raiders’ preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys. After announcing Minshew as the team’s starting quarterback, Coach Pierce noted some of the veteran quarterback’s strengths and weaknesses.
"Well, one, his personality is affectionate, his image is affectionate, his leadership is affectionate,” Pierce said. “Things of improvement, footwork in the pocket, staying on script. There's some magic about him when he does break the pocket and does his thing, but there's a lot of times where if the first or second read is there, we got to let it rip. So, he understands that, and more importantly, taking care of the football."
While O’Connell improved between the end of last season and the start of this season, Minshew is undoubtedly more mobile than O’Connell and routinely extends broken plays, giving the Raiders offense the chance to make something out of plays O’Connell likely wouldn’t be able to.
Considering the Raiders’ first two games of the season are on the road, against Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack, and the Los Angeles Chargers, as well as a difficult Baltimore Ravens, they must have mobility at the quarterback position. Minshew brings that to the table, along with experience. O’Connell currently does not have either of those things.
