The Las Vegas Raiders are 2-5 and the injuries are starting to pile up. The team is already missing a few key starters and is now going to be without their starting quarterback for a while.
Aidan O'Connell was forced to leave the Los Angeles Rams matchup early after hurting his hand and never returned to the game. It was originally reported that that he had broken his thumb and now that has been confirmed by NFL Network.
#Raiders QB Aidan O’Connell is heading to Injured Reserve with a fractured thumb, sources tell me and @MikeGarafolo following tests.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 21, 2024
O’Connell, who had resumed starting before his injury, is out 4-6 weeks. He has a chance to return the season. pic.twitter.com/NKLByRwU8c
Based on the timeline of four to six weeks, O'Connell certainly has a chance to return this season. That said, does it even matter? Prior to getting hurt, he wasn't playing much better than what we saw from Gardner Minshew. He was better at taking care of the football but wasn't making any big plays.
It's clear that he hasn't taken a big leap in his second season so do the Raiders really need to see much more from him? At this point, the team would be better off starting Carter Bradley to see if there's any juice there.
The Raiders are obviously going to be in the quarterback market in the offseason and they aren't in the playoff mix right now. Now, for O'Connell, this is really devastating news. He just got his starting job back and this was going to be his best opportunity to prove himself.
Now he's likely going to be relegated to a backup role going forward. He could perhaps reclaim the starting job when he gets back but it's possible the Raiders will be completely knocked out of the playoff picture by then.
This has been a nightmare season for the Raiders and he keeps worse. At what point does the team consider shutting down a few of their top players for the season if they get banged up?