The big questions around the Raiders right now are all about the team’s quarterback situation.
To this point in the process, fans who haven’t been in attendance at training camp haven’t had the opportunity to get a look and Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew. From the outside, the only updates on the quarterback competition come from media members at the training camp.
That trend will end tonight, but on the day before the team’s first preseason game, The Athletic’s Vic Tafur shared what he believes will be a key in determining the Raiders’ week 1 starting quarterback.
In a segment with Raider Nation Radio’s JT the Brick, Tafur said he thinks the quarterback competition will largely come down to throwing accuracy, which is something that apparently both quarterbacks have struggled with in training camp.
“For me it will come down to accuracy,” Tafur said. “We have a month left, so if Aidan has a good month where he’s more accurate and gets more comfortable then maybe he can hold off Gardner. But if not, if you can’t be more accurate than Gardner, and clearly so, then the edge goes to Gardner because of the other things. He can make plays, his experience, and think kinf of stuff. I think it’s kind of on Aidan right now to take another step in the next month.”
JT followed up Vic’s comments and pointed to the fact that the Raiders have been without two starting offensive linemen in training camp, but it’s also noteworthy that Davante Adams missed a good portion of camp.
“You’re at a point now where you don’t have your starting left tackle and what presumably is your starting left guard,” JT said. “If you don’t have that, what are you going to be able to get done? Are you going to have an elite training camp at quarterback? Well, they haven’t been very accurate and that’s a concern.”
Piecing together the vibe from many of those covering training camp, it sounds like the Raiders’ coaching staff has been waiting for O’Connell to emerge as the starter. They know what they have in Minshew, but they have been hoping O’Connell would take the next step. That hasn’t happened to this point and that’s why the competition is wide open going into the first preseason game.
Once again, the Raiders will be without key offensive pieces in Saturday’s game against the Vikings, but if one of the quarterbacks can show some timing and accuracy in the passing game, maybe we’ll have a frontrunner for the job by Saturday night.
