By essentially every account at training camp, the Raiders quarterback competition has been an underwhelming audition by both Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew.
The two quarterbacks have been splitting reps since the start of camp and neither has come close to seizing the job to this point in the process.
Antonio Pierce and the coaching staff have shared a few thoughts publicly on the team’s quarterback competition, but it sounds like they’ve offered a little more perspective privately.
Based on a report this week from Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, the starting job will go to O’Connell if Minshew isn’t the obvious choice after (or during) the preseason.
“I have two standards. It’s not the same standard for both [quarterbacks] because I know what the thought process is inside the building,” Hondo said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast. “The thought process was that Aidan played half a year as a rookie and did well… but they go and spend tens of millions of dollars on Gardner Minshew, a guy who has been with multiple teams and last year was a Pro Bowl alternate. They expected that if [Minshew] won it, he was going to come in and just overwhelmingly take it.”
“A tie goes to Aidan. I told you that all offseason,” Hondo continued. “[Minshew] has not only not tied him, there’s days that he gets beat out and I’m not pretending like Aidan looks [great]. It’s disappointing. I thought Garnder would perform better. I also thought Aidan would perform better… as far as I am concerned, based on what I have been told inside the building was a tie would go to Aidan. When I asked [Antonio Pierce] and I’ve talked to people in the building [if] there has been any differentiation, [they said] ‘No, not really.’”
On Tuesday, Pierce said O’Connell and Minshew will each play “a legit quarter” against the Vikings on Saturday, so it will be interesting to see if either quarterback will be able to take a positive step in round one of the preseason.