The Las Vegas Raiders will face numerous evaluations this offseason, including the starting quarterback position. The Raiders must weigh the options of letting Aidan O’Connell return as starter, acquiring an experienced starting quarterback, or selecting a quarterback in this year’s 2024 NFL Draft.
On Wednesday, Tom Telesco, the new general manager, and Antonio Pierce, the new head coach, spoke about the quarterback assessment process.
Telesco is intimately familiar with quarterback O’Connell, who began in the 63-21 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, a team for whom Telesco served as general manager for ten seasons.
“I’ll tell you, as I previously stated, I have a lot of learning to do to understand this team from the inside, not the outside. Aidan obviously played well against us, which is a good. But I need to get to know this team much better than just a couple of games and then talk to the staff. We must do this in every job. That is probably number one, at least for me. I need to get to know this team as well as I did the one I just came from, which I don’t now, but I’ll get there quickly.
Antonio Pierce also had an opportunity to discuss O’Connell and his approach to quarterback assessment.
“I thought we saw progress with Aidan.” I believed he was playing some really fantastic football at the end of the season, which helped us win some games. However, taking care of the football, being accountable, and becoming more loud. I believe he put himself in a position to learn what it’s like to be a professional during the offseason by reflecting on what he had just done. Without those opportunities, he would never know what mistakes he had made. So I believe that was a tremendous learning tool for him, and now that we have it on film, as Tom mentioned, we can review it and really look at it going forward.”
In his rookie season with the Silver and Black, O’Connell had a passer rating of 83.9, 2,218 yards, 12 touchdowns, and seven interceptions across 12 games.
From February 27 to March 4, 2024, the NFL Scouting Combine will be hosted in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The NFL Draft will take place in Detroit, Michigan, on April 25-27, 2024. The Las Vegas Raiders presently have the 13th overall pick.
Leave a Reply