Raiders' Gardner Minshew Named QB1 Over Aidan O'Connell; Will Start vs. Chargers

Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce named Gardner Minshew as the starting quarterback for the 2024 season on Sunday, per Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Aidan O'Connell will back up Minshew on Sept. 8 when the Raiders begin the season on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Vic Tafur of The Athletic noted the decision came down to experience.

Minshew, who signed with the Raiders in March, beat out incumbent starter O'Connell for the job after earning the first Pro Bowl nomination of his career during his 2023 campaign for the Indianapolis Colts.

Appearing in all 17 games for the Colts, Minshew took over as starter in place of an injured Anthony Richardson in Week 6. He passed for 2,752 yards, 13 touchdowns, and nine interceptions through 12 starts as Indianapolis finished the season 6-6.

Minshew competed with O'Connell for the starting spot after the 2023 fourth-round pick beat out veteran Jimmy Garoppolo in last season's quarterback battle.

Both signal callers received reps with the Raiders' first-team offense in training camp.

The quarterback battle ended up going past into camp and into the preseason, to the point that the first unofficial depth chart released by the team in August listed both Minshew and O'Connell as QB1.

But Minshew is heading into his sixth NFL campaign, and his experience, as well as a strong performance through two preseason games, helped convince the Raiders to go in a different direction for the 2024 season.

After calling Minshew "a culture fit" in Las Vegas following his free agency signing, Pierce later described the veteran as a "savvy" quarterback during training camp.

"Gardner's really savvy, does a good job of controlling [tempo], poise, feels things around him, good feeling in the pocket," Pierce told reporters, per ESPN's Paul Gutierrez.

A 2019 sixth-round pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars, Minshew began his career as a starter in Jacksonville before spending three campaigns mostly backing up Trevor Lawrence with the Jags and Jalen Hurts with the Philadelphia Eagles.

His ability to step up for Richardson and put together a Pro Bowl campaign in Indianapolis was enough to convince the Raiders to give Minshew another shot at starting. If he struggles early in the season, however, Las Vegas could still decide to make a midseason switch to O'Connell for the second year in a row.