Raiders HC Antonio Pierce is Ready to See Aidan O'Connell's Offseason Growth on the Field

For the Las Vegas Raiders, this summer will be mainly about their quarterback position and who will win the competition for the starting spot. After bringing in veteran quarterback Gardner Minshew, the Raiders are expecting him to push second-year quarterback Aidan O’Connell for the starting position.

After unexpectedly being upgraded from third-string quarterback to starting quarterback last season after Josh McDaniels was fired, O’Connell guided the Raiders to a 5-4 record over the second half of the season. While O’Connell struggled at times last season, most quarterbacks would have struggled in that offense. He stayed even-keeled throughout his time as the starting quarterback last season, proving he could lead the team on and off the field calmly.

"Aidan [O'Connell] is mentally tough,” said Raiders coach Antonio Pierce. “I said this last year, I said, 'Aidan has a certain thing mentally where he blocks out outside noise, doesn't worry about it.' I'm sure he reads like we all do.”

As a rookie, O’Connell arguably had more high points than low points. The team rarely lost a game singlehandedly because of O’Connell’s miscues. Pierce said O’Connell’s performance last season and the growth he’s seen from O’Connell during the offseason have excited him.

"I'm excited," Pierce said. "I mean, what Aidan did the last four games and from what he's done this offseason – changing his body, his work ethic, being here every day, blocking out the outside noise, not worried about anything, I’m excited."

Although the Raiders rarely lost solely because of O’Connell, they did lose a couple of games because of some of the rookie’s weaknesses. Pierce says he’s already seen growth from O’Connell this offseason and looks forward to seeing more as minicam and training camp approaches.

“When he comes to work, he's focused, he's prepared, he studies, he puts the time in,” Pierce said.”There've been conversations that we've had that I've seen him grow in this short period of time in the offseason. I'm really excited to see Aidan as we go through OTAs, minicamp, and training camp. I'm excited. We're going to stick to the process. But as I said before, Aidan's earned the right to go out there and get the first snap."

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