The Las Vegas Raiders' offense is looking to move on from last season.
It was a season in which the unit struggled mightily for most of the season, causing the Raiders’ front office to work tirelessly this offseason to better the unit. Raiders general manager Tom Telesco rebuilt the team’s offensive line, which was bare entering the NFL Draft. Telesco would use the draft and free agency to help fill out the unit.
Quarterback Gardner Minshew II was brought in to push second-year quarterback Aidan O’Connell in an offseason quarterback competition.
Minshew was announced as the team’s starting quarterback shortly after the Raiders’ second preseason game and will lead Silver and Black to start the season. The Raiders have a new starting quarterback in Minshew and a new offensive coordinator, Luke Getsy.
Minshew said he has appreciated how Getsy communicates with the players on the offense and that it has helped him transition from the new quarterback on the team’s roster to the team’s starting quarterback.
"Yeah, he's been an awesome communicator from the jump,” Minshew said. “Whenever he has thoughts and ideas, he gets them to me and is very receptive to communication coming from my way, too, which is awesome. As a quarterback, you feel like there's real rapport there. And I think that trust that we develop, that communication is something that helps as you get into the game.
"I think our body of work since the spring, the improvements we've made, the trust we've built in each other, I think that's it, man. When you see the trajectory from the spring, where we started, through fall camp, against a very challenging defense every day that didn't give us any breaks, I have confidence in our body of work, and I'm excited to get to go take that on the road."
The Raiders hope Minshew and the offense can execute in a challenging first game of the season against the Los Angeles Chargers. If the Raiders’ offense can improve even marginally from last season and the defense can play at the same level or better, the Raiders could have a shot at making the playoffs this season.
