The Raiders have three 2023 draft picks on offense, and all three of them had big games in Thursday night’s win over the Chargers: Rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell threw for 248 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions, rookie wide receiver Tre Tucker had 59 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and rookie tight end Michael Mayer had 39 yards and one touchdown.
After the game, O’Connell said he and his fellow rookies are proud of how big an improvement they’ve shown since they arrived in Las Vegas.
“I came in with those guys and we were talking today and yesterday about how far we’ve come and how different it is from when we first got here,” O’Connell said. “The NFL is really hard and it’s hard in your first year. To be able to go through it with those guys and share similar experiences has been awesome.”
The Raiders have struggled in recent years in large part because they’ve drafted poorly. O’Connell, Tucker and Mayer may prove to be part of a good 2023 draft class who have a bright future in Las Vegas.
