It sounds like the Raiders should have quarterback Aidan O’Connell back for Sunday’s game against the Jaguars.
“He looks like he’s good to go,” head coach Antonio Pierce said in his Friday press conference. “Yesterday, he had another good day, so he should be good to go on Sunday.”
O’Connell suffered a bone bruise in his knee during Las Vegas’ Week 15 loss to Tampa Bay. Desmond Ridder started the Monday night loss to the Falcons.
In six games this year, O’Connell has completed 63.2 percent of his passes for 899 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions.
Pierce also noted that left guard Jordan Meredith (ankle) is not looking good to play, saying he’s doubtful. If that is the case, Jackson Powers-Johnson would move over to left guard, with Andre James starting at center.
Las Vegas’ full injury report with game statuses will be released later on Friday.
The Raiders announced several roster moves on Wednesday, including one that formally ends a star player’s season.
Defensive end Maxx Crosby has been placed on injured reserve. Crosby underwent ankle surgery, sharing in a social media post, “This bounce back will be iconic.”
Crosby recorded 7.5 sacks, 17 tackles for loss, and 20 quarterback hits in 12 games this season. He had not missed a game in his career before 2024.
Additionally, the Raiders placed running back Sincere McCormick on injured reserve, ending his season.
Running back Chris Collier has been signed to the 53-man roster off the club’s practice squad. As previously reported, the Raiders have signed defensive end Andre Carter to the 53-man roster off the Vikings’ practice squad.
Defensive end Ovie Oghoufo and running back Isaiah Spiller have been signed to the practice squad.
Edge rusher Andre Carter II will get a chance to show the Raiders what he can do over the final three weeks of the regular season.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Raiders will sign Carter off of the Vikings practice squad. Carter went to West Point and signed with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent last year.
Carter appeared in 12 games as a rookie and made two tackles while seeing most of his playing time on special teams.
Maxx Crosby’s season-ending ankle injury opens the door for Carter and others to make an impression in the final weeks of the year.
With Kirk Cousins heading to the bench in Atlanta, it’s safe to say his time with the team is over. Unless Michael Penix Jr. suffers a serious injury down the stretch — or unless the Falcons can’t trade Cousins in the offseason and decide to keep him as the backup — he’ll be elsewhere in 2025.
As we pointed out many times after the Falcons shocked the football-following world and used the eighth overall pick not on a player who would help Cousins win but on his eventual replacement, the front-loaded deal gives them an easy out after one year. If, that is, he’s willing to waive his no-trade clause.
The Falcons will pay Cousins $62.5 million for 2024. Cousins has a fully-guaranteed salary of $27.5 million for 2025, with another $10 million that becomes fully guaranteed in 2026 on the fifth day of the 2025 league year. As veteran quarterbacks go, $27.5 million is less than the top of the current market, which hit $60 million with the Dak Prescott deal.
It’s also possible the Falcons would pay some of the money to facilitate a trade.
First, someone has to want to trade for Cousins. Based on his performance this year, that might not be a given. Father Time quite possibly did what he inevitably does to all players after Cousins threw four touchdown passes on November 3 against the Cowboys. In five games since, he has one touchdown pass and nine interceptions. His passer rating has fallen under 80 in each of those games.
Second, Cousins has to be willing to waive his no-trade clause. Maybe he’ll dig in his heels, happily taking $27.5 million to be Penix’s backup in 2025 and otherwise daring the Falcons to cut him.
A trade before June 1 would trigger a 2025 cap charge of $37.5 million. That’s still lower than his $40 million cap number for next year, and it saves $27.5 million in cash.
Cutting him with a post-June 1 designation would trigger a $40 million charge, but the Falcons would get credit for whatever he earns elsewhere, even if it’s only the league minimum.
Not many teams will be looking for a starter in the offseason. The current candidates are the Jets, Browns (if they can get him cheap), Steelers (if they don’t re-sign Russell Wilson or Justin Fields), Titans, Raiders, Giants, Saints, and perhaps the Seahawks.
Then there’s the 49ers. With Brock Purdy not ascending the way many had hoped, coach Kyle Shanahan might finally reunite with the player that Kyle and his father, Mike, drafted in 2012 as the insurance policy to Robert Griffin III.
Finally, don’t rule out the Rams. Cousins is still a younger option than Matthew Stafford, and coach Sean McVay (who like Shanahan worked with Cousins in Washington) has high regard for Cousins.
On Monday night, ESPN offered up one last overlapping doubleheader for the 2024 season. On Tuesday, ESPN disclosed some of the metrics.
The company announced that the three hours of overlapping coverage of Bears-Vikings on ABC and Falcons-Raiders on ESPN averaged 17.8 million viewers.
No specific data was released as to the audience for Bears-Vikings or the audience for Falcons-Raiders.
Many (i.e., me) don’t like the Monday night doubleheaders. Just televise one game, and let us watch that game and only that game.
The good news is that ESPN and ABC apparently have ditched the live look-ins. There’s no reason to do it, since most people can use a split-screen function or have multiple screens.
There’s also no reason to have overlapping prime-time games. Why not just put one of the games on Tuesday night?
We all know it’s just a matter of time before that happens. Just go on and do it.
