The Las Vegas Raiders were one of the worst teams in the NFL last season. Surprisingly, however, there were five teams worse than them, including their AFC counterpart Tennessee Titans, who won just three games in 2024 en route to the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
With this pick, they chose Miami quarterback Cam Ward, who is expected to rejuvenate the franchise. This meant that the writing was on the wall for Will Levis, a quarterback whom they selected in the second round just two years prior in the 2023 NFL Draft.
On Monday, however, Levis sealed his own fate by announcing that he would be undergoing shoulder surgery, which means he is out for the 2025 NFL season. This decision comes incredibly late for Tennessee, and now they are in a bit of a conundrum just before training camp starts.
Raiders could bail out Titans by trading them Aidan O'Connell
Tennessee's current backups for Ward, their prized rookie, are Brandon Allen and Tim Boyle. Allen is an underwhelming player who has experience with head coach Brian Callahan, but Boyle is, statistically, one of the worst college and NFL quarterbacks in recent memory.
Given that the Titans have no viable options at backup, the Raiders could likely charge a king's ransom for a player like Aidan O'Connell. Tennessee might not have much to offer the Raiders in return, but a late-round pick swap or a flier on a receiver like Treylon Burks could be in order.
O'Connell is not going to light the world on fire, but he is a solid backup and could keep the Titans afloat in a pinch more than Allen or Boyle could. The Raiders would be just fine without him, as they invested in Cam Miller as a backup in the sixth round of this year's draft.
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Acquiring O'Connell would likely be the best insurance policy for Ward that the Titans could get at this juncture, as the free agent market is desolate and most teams want to keep their solid backups. However, O'Connell may have run his course in Las Vegas and could be supplanted by Miller anyway.
If Tennessee was willing to send a fifth-rounder, or even a sixth-rounder for O'Connell, perhaps the new regime for the Raiders, who shopped the third-year quarterback this offseason, would take the deal.
There is no reason to simply give O'Connell away, because, as mentioned, he can be a solid signal-caller in an emergency situation. However, adding a late-round pick might be more lucrative for a Raiders team that has the utmost belief in Geno Smith and wants to collect draft picks for the future.