The Raiders are heading toward training camp with a plan to have incumbent Aidan O’Connell and free agent acquisition Gardner Minshew compete for the starting job. If the betting odds are correct, Minshew will emerge as the winner.
Minshew is a -200 favorite to take the Raiders’ first snap in Week One, whild O’Connell is a +150 underdog at DraftKings.com.
O’Connell arrived as a fourth-round rookie last year who started the season behind both Jimmy Garoppolo and Brian Hoyer on the Raiders’ depth chart, but O’Connell ended up starting 10 games, with the Raiders going 5-5 in those games. O’Connell was far from great, but for a rookie thrust into the starting job unexpectedly, he did reasonably well.
But perhaps not well enough to make him the favorite over Minshew, who also began last season as a backup but ended up starting 13 games for the Colts, who went 7-6 in the games he started. For his career, Minshew has 37 starts and has completed 62.6 percent of his passes, with 59 touchdowns and 24 interceptions.
There’s more optimism in Las Vegas this year after Antonio Pierce replaced Josh McDaniels mid-season in 2023 and kept the job in 2024. But finding the right starting quarterback will be the key to turning that optimism into a winning record.