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After quarterback Gardner Minshew suffered a season-ending broken collarbone against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, the Las Vegas Raiders got one of their quarterbacks back from injury.
The team announced Monday that Aidan O'Connell, who has been out with a hand injury, returned to practice.
The Raiders placed O'Connell on the injured reserve in late October due to a broken thumb. Amid O'Connell's injury, Las Vegas picked up Desmond Ridder to serve as the backup.
Minshew, who joined the Raiders after a successful season with the Indianapolis Colts a year ago, had 2,013 passing yards, nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions before going down with the injury. Ridder replaced him on Sunday and completed five of his 10 passes for 64 yards.
O'Connell, who has played four games this season, has 455 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. There was some indecision from the Raiders on whether to start O'Connell or Minshew earlier this season, but now O'Connell may get his chance to be the starter for the rest of the year.
Head coach Antonio Pierce said that he could be ready to go for Friday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs, but he will need to see O'Connell make some strides this week.
"Just seeing him being able to grip the ball comfortably — hopefully there's no pain there — and just being able to be efficient," Pierce said, per The Athletic's Tashan Reed. "To put a player out there that's hurting or injured still, that's not in the benefit of the player or the team."
At this point in the season, there's not much O'Connell can do for the Raiders. They lost their seventh consecutive game on Sunday to drop to 2-9 on the year and are likely out of the playoffs barring a late-season miracle.
The rest of the season for O'Connell will likely be more about proving himself as a capable starter for Las Vegas.
