Las Vegas Raiders signing Gardner Minshew was a huge mistake

He Is Only A Slight Improvement Over O’Connell

As mentioned, the Raiders entered last season with the expectation that Jimmy Garoppolo would be their starting quarterback after signing to a multi-year deal in the off-season. Of course, “Jimmy G” would get hurt once again and Aidan O’Connell would take the reins for good. 

A fourth-round rookie from Purdue, O’Connell was thrust into a difficult situation after the firing of head coach Josh McDaniels and offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi. While the infrastructure around him still included stars like Davante Adams and Josh Jacobs, his offensive coordinator was Bo Hardagree who was calling plays for the first time. 

With 2,218 passing yards and twelve touchdowns, “AOC” was hardly exceptional but certainly impressed at times. Minshew is almost certainly better than the youngster but enough to justify the 24 million dollar price tag?

Minshew was in a talent-laden offense last season and had what looks to be one of the league's best playcallers in Shane Steichen and did well to get the ball to his playmakers but couldn’t create much on his own. Simply, he is a backup-level talent in the NFL which is what he’s been for most of his career. He just isn’t a starting-caliber player.