The Las Vegas Raiders entered the preseason with a clear-cut answer at quarterback, which is not something the franchise could say last season. Raider Nation knows how last year panned out, so it's a good thing that Pete Carroll and John Spytek made this change.
Behind Smith is third-year player Aidan O'Connell and sixth-round rookie Cam Miller from FCS North Dakota State. These two players took the bulk of the preseason snaps as Smith and the starters watched from the sideline.
While several players improved their stock during training camp and the team's three exhibition games, one of these young signal-callers ended up being the biggest loser of the preseason due to their poor performances.
Aidan O'Connell was Raiders' biggest loser of the preseason
In the first preseason bout, Miller dramatically outplayed O'Connell and even led the team on a potential game-winning drive against the Seattle Seahawks. This caused a good portion of Raider Nation to call for Miller to supplant O'Connell as the team's primary backup.
O'Connell responded with a better performance against the San Francisco 49ers, but he was still not good by any means. All told, through the first two contests, O'Connell completed 62.3% of his passes for 343 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions while taking two sacks for 17 yards.
On Saturday against the Arizona Cardinals in the preseason finale, O'Connell floundered once again. He did complete three of his four passes for 36 yards, but his lone incompletion was almost an interception. O'Connell also had his fourth turnover of the preseason on a sack fumble.
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To make matters worse, he also left the game early with a right wrist injury. This is just another devastating blow for O'Connell, who has had a preseason to forget under Chip Kelly, his fifth different play-caller in just two calendar years.
While O'Connell has starting experience and the potential to be a viable backup, he just didn't show enough in the preseason to justify sticking around in Las Vegas. He can certainly make good plays and look impressive at times, but he is too much of a wildcard to depend on as a backup.
O'Connell may best be used as a trade chip at this point, and Las Vegas could potentially salvage a Day 3 pick for him and let Miller develop. There may also be a handful of solid backup quarterbacks available over the coming days as rosters get cut down to 53 players by Tuesday.