Insider explains why Aidan O’Connell is on 53-man roster

Nothing confused fans more about the initial 53-man roster for the Las Vegas Raiders than keeping quarterback Aidan O’Connell on the active roster.

Suffering a wrist fracture that will cause him to miss the first two months of the season, O’Connell was considered destined to start the season on injured reserve. Instead, O’Connell remains on the roster while the Raiders ran the risk of losing sixth-round rookie Cam Miller on waivers. It was a move that raised many questions among fans, wondering why the Raiders would essentially waste a roster spot on someone who was already a lock to miss half of the season.

One insider heard the complaints and decided to set the record straight.

The name of the game for the Raiders and Aidan O’Connell is patience.

During the Vegas Nation First and 10 podcast, Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal cleared the air regarding O’Connell’s roster status.

“Number one, had they put him on IR before the 53-man roster was set, there was two ways to be able to do that. One, was to use one of their two moves that you can make on injured players at that point and put them on IR with the ability to bring them back at some point this season before you set your 53-man roster,” Bonsignore explained.

“Those two though, take away from your eight total. So, they already put Lonnie Johnson on IR yesterday, which means putting Aidan O’Connell on IR with the ability to bring him back at some point before your 53-man roster was set, would have then left them with only six of those types of moves down the road.”

From what Bonsignore is saying, keeping O’Connell allows the Raiders to maintain some level of roster flexibility, and they are waiting for the right time before they move him to injured reserve.

Fortunately, this decision did not burn the Raiders too badly. Miller cleared waivers and was signed to the team’s practice squad, and every member of the Raiders’ initial 17-man practice squad was with the team during training camp and the preseason. The only loss was running back Sincere McCormick, who has since signed with the practice squad of the San Francisco 49ers.

The Raiders are exercising patience with O’Connell for the time being, but it sounds as though he will end up on injured reserve eventually.