Position Battles Are Nothing New to Raiders QB Aidan O'Connell

Las Vegas Raiders' quarterback Aidan O'Connell will be competing to keep his spot as a starter this summer.

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Aidan O'Connell has always had to work for the good fortune he has earned throughout his football career.

That isn't going to change now, as O'Connell will be entering another training camp in which he will dual for a starting spot. As of now, it's his, but with the addition of Gardner Minshew II and perhaps another quarterback in the near future, O'Connell is going to have to fight to keep the honor he held for the final nine games of the Raiders' 2023 season.

But that's nothing new for the second-year Raider, who began his career at Purdue as a walk-on.

"Yeah, I think especially at this level -- and I thought the same thing at Purdue -- but especially at this
level, there's going to be competition," O'Connell told media members on Monday. "I mean, it's the best of the best, and so the coaches and administration want to bring in the best players possible to try to make the team better. And the best guys are going to play, and so I'm just trying to do my job. Yeah, like you said, it's new at this level for me, but it's nothing new in terms of the competition. It's been even since high school what I’ve been dealing with and working through, and so that's just part of the game. It's not unique to any one position, it's how it is at every position. Obviously, only one quarterback plays, but it's part of it.”

O'Connell finished his rookie season as the leader of the offense, but knowing that the job is not set in stone is also something the young quarterback has come to expect.

"I think I'm definitely not used to just being the guy going into the season," O'Connell said. "So, I definitely think it's probably more foreign for that to happen just based on the years of me playing football since high school. It'd be more foreign to me being the unquestioned starter rather than competing."

O'Connell finished his rookie season with 2,218 passing yards and 12 touchdowns in 11 games. He was drafted by the Raiders in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

The NFL Draft will be held in Detroit, Mich., on April 25-27, 2024. The Las Vegas Raiders currently have the No. 13 overall pick.

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