Raiders turning to Aidan O'Connell is the right move in 2023 and possibly beyond

On Halloween night, the Las Vegas Raiders began to revamp their organization from the top down, firing general manager Dave Ziegler and head coach Josh McDaniels. For fans of the team, this has been a long time coming, as McDaniels has been out-coached on a weekly basis, and it was pretty much a package deal with him and Ziegler.

Then, on Wednesday, news starting coming down that the Raiders would also be firing offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi, even though he did not call plays. Finally, reports began circulating that the Jimmy Garoppolo Experiment would also come to a close, with rookie Aidan O'Connell taking over as starting quarterback the rest of the season.

Many of these moves had been wishes of the fan base for quite some time now, and with Antonio Pierce taking over as interim head coach, you have to think he will have the backing of the locker room. For O'Connell, this is a golden opportunity to not only show he should have been the starter all along, but possibly send a message to the franchise that he is the guy for the position moving forward.

Raiders finally make the right choice with O'Connell

From the start, it was pretty clear that the Raiders did not get what they bargained for in terms of Jimmy Garoppolo. He has been terrible with the football, forcing bad interceptions, and he had some big misses against the Detroit Lions on Monday night in a game the Raiders actually had a chance to win.

Las Vegas now turns to O'Connell who showed flashes against both the Los Angeles Chargers and Chicago Bears. O'Connell is strong-armed and accurate quarterback who is not afraid to hang in the pocket and make big throws downfield, something that should excite both Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers on the outside.

Maybe O'Connell is not the long-term answer in Las Vegas, but he will now have plenty of time to audition for the role moving forward. The Raiders are hitting the reset button once again, and the hope is that they found a gem in the former Purdue Boilermaker.