Minshew Mania is officially hitting Las Vegas.
Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce named Gardner Minshew the team’s starting quarterback in his Sunday video conference.
“A lot of things went into it. It wasn’t based on [the preseason game] last night — there’s a lot of factors,” Pierce said, mentioning he, G.M. Tom Telesco, and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy discussed the decision this morning. “So, we feel like Garnder gives us the best opportunity to get off to a fast start and that’s who we’re going with. We support him. Our team’s opportunity it, our staff’s behind it, the organization’s behind it.”
Minshew, 28, signed a two-year deal with the Raiders in March after spending last season with the Colts. He was competing with second-year quarterback Aidan O’Connell, who started 10 games for Las Vegas last year as a rookie.
Minshew’s experience was one of the deciding factors, Pierce said.
“The operation, the processing — just everything we saw in practice. Some of it showed up in the games. A lot of stuff we can get better at. I don’t think anything here is a finished product. But based off of where we want to go in the first quarter of the season, we feel like Gardner gives us the best opportunity.
“[H]is personality is infectious. His energy is infectious. His leadership is infectious. Things [for] improvement — footwork, in the pocket, staying on script. There is some magic about him when he does break the pocket and does his thing. But there’s a lot of times where if the first or second read is there, we’ve got to let it rip. So, he understands that. And more importantly, taking care of the football.”
Minshew started Saturday night’s preseason matchup with the Cowboys, going 10-of-21 for 95 yards. O’Connell came in second, completing 14-of-20 passes for 96 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Pierce complimented both signal-callers for the way they handled the competition — noting that he still feels O’Connell has a future as a starting quarterback. While Pierce mentioned the first quarter of the season a couple of times, he said that’s just the way he breaks things up, meaning it’s not a reason for Minshew to be looking over his shoulder.
“First and foremost, those two gentlemen are professionals,” Pierce said. “The way they’ve handled this competition has really resonated throughout our building, especially our staff and our team. They’ve cheered each other on. They’ve been good teammates. They’ve brought out the best version of each other in practices and I think in the games. They both took it on the chin like a champ.
“And I told them, just both be ready. We [see] in the National Football League, you never know. But Aidan is a young player that has tremendous upside that I think will still be a starter here in this league — I think will be a starter at some point in this league, if it’s this year or next year. But he will play in games. And I think Gardner has done a good job of being that older presence, because he’s played a couple of years in the league and he’s been through some adversity. So that’s been good for Aidan.”
Minshew has appeared in 49 career games with 37 starts since the Jaguars selected him in the sixth round of the 2019 draft. He started 13 games for the Colts last season, compiling a 7-6 record. He completed 62 percent of his throws for 3,305 yards with 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions in 2023.