Las Vegas Raiders GM Shares Strong Take On QB Competition

The Las Vegas Raiders have one of the more interesting quarterback competitions heading into the 2024 NFL campaign.

The Raiders ended last season with Aidan O’Connell under center, and most assumed he would be the starting quarterback in 2024 barring something happening in the NFL Draft.

Well, Las Vegas ended up missing out on a signal-caller in the draft, as the top six quarterback prospects were taken before the Raiders picked at No. 13.

Las Vegas did sign Gardner Minshew in free agency, and although Minshew is coming off of an admirable season with the Indianapolis Colts, he probably isn’t a long-term answer.

That doesn’t mean Minshew doesn’t have a chance of winning the starting job, however.

Raiders general manager Tom Telesco was asked about his team’s situation under center this week, and he was non-committal.

“That’s the plan is to have both those guys really compete through the offseason program, but more so in training camp, and we’ll see how it plays out,” Telesco said during an appearance on NFL Total Access, via Kevin Patra of NFL.com.

But does O’Connell have the edge? Telesco complimented the youngster, but wouldn’t really divulge too much information in terms of any sort of advantage the Purdue product may have.

“I thought Aidan did an excellent job last year in a really difficult situation where the head coach changed, the coordinator changed, and he played really good football down the stretch. I’ve had a chance to be around him a little bit more in the building and you kind of see the quarterback intangibles that are there, which is nice to have, that you have to have as a franchise quarterback.”

Telesco also had some good things to say about Minshew.

“And then with Gardner, you know, Gardner played well last year with the Colts,” he said. “I mean, he was in the Pro Bowl, so obviously had a pretty good year. He’s always performed at a high level when he’s given that opportunity, so to have both those guys here competing for the job, we’ll see how it goes.”

If we’re being honest, the Raiders should probably roll with O’Connell just to see what he has. We all pretty much already know what Minshew is. We don’t, however, know what O’Connell can become.

You have to think Las Vegas is thinking the same thing, but we’ll find out more as the offseason progresses.