Raiders quarterback Aidan O'Connell reveals the real reason he changed his number this offseason

Last season was the first season the Las Vegas Raiders would be without former franchise quarterback Derek Carr since before he was drafted. They released him, and he signed with the New Orleans Saints, who play the Raiders this season. So, that left the Raiders with the process of trying to find a new quarterback.

They drafted Aidan O'Connell in the fourth round and gave him Carr's old jersey number—No. 4. To O'Connell, this wasn't intentional. That's just the number the staff gave him. This upset a lot of the fans. But it was time to move on, and as we all know, the Raiders don't retire numbers anyway.

O'Connell played the entire season as No. 4. He won the starting job when Antonio Pierce took over and is positioned to get first-team reps in training camp this offseason. However, he will be using a different number this time. Earlier this offseason, O'Connell switched numbers to No. 12. This was originally something people thought he did because of Tom Brady, someone he has grown close with and learned from, and a guy who is one of O'Connell's favorite players.

But that wasn't really why.

"I just didn't want to be No. 4 anymore - I didn't pick four; I was actually nine," Aidan O'Connell said on Maxx Crosby's podcast The Rush. "Tyree wanted nine, so they gave it to him. They gave me four; I was a rookie, so you do what you're told. Then this offseason, this is Derek's number; he wore it for that long, and he's a franchise leader - it felt disrespectful."