Aidan O’Connell has a lot to prove in Raiders’ final five games – Las Vegas Sun News

The best thing for Aidan O’Connell this season was always for the second-year Raiders quarterback to progress and reach a new level after his tumultuous rookie season.

He did not sufficiently acknowledge this possibility in training camp, which led to him ultimately losing the quarterback competition to teammate Gardner Minshew. O’Connell didn’t look much better mid-season when he took over as replacement for substitute Minshew.

But those who believed in Purdue’s 2023 fourth-round pick were finally rewarded last week when O’Connell came back from a broken thumb and turned in arguably the best performance of his career. He threw for a career-high 340 yards and put the Raiders in position to surprise the Kansas City Chiefs in the final seconds before ultimately falling to a 19-17 loss.

“He turned around and dealt,” said coach Antonio Pierce, describing O’Connell’s performance.

The final five games of the Raiders season, starting at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will show whether last week’s game was a one-off spectacle from O’Connell or whether he can keep the Redemption Tour going.

It may seem like there isn’t much at stake for the Raiders (2-10) as they wrap up a long-lost season, but that couldn’t be further from the truth for their 26-year-old quarterback. He’s under pressure to show that he belongs as a starting quarterback in the NFL in the future, particularly with the Raiders.

If the season ended today, Las Vegas would go No. 2 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, where they would almost certainly have a quarterback in their sights — likely Shedeur Sanders from the University of Colorado or Cam Ward from the University of Miami.

“It’s almost expected at this point,” O’Connell said Wednesday about facing competition just to get on the field. “And I don’t think it will be any different for the rest of my career. I hope I can establish myself and know I’m going to play, but I think it’s part of the NFL. They’re going to bring in new people every year to compete and try to put the best people on the field.”

A large portion of the Raiders fanbase is actively rooting against the team at this point, hoping they lose as much as possible to maximize their chances of signing the long-secret franchise quarterback.

Sanders himself could be among them. The son of “Coach Prime” Deion Sanders has long been linked to interest from the Raiders and has done little to quell those whispers.

Detectives have linked the timing of his social media posts to cases that increased his chances of ending up in Las Vegas.

But O’Connell may quietly be the most powerful party in all this. He can make all the new quarterback talk moot.

He’s done it before.

The Raiders were unable to sign a quarterback in the first round of last year’s draft, with all four top prospects off the field before selecting No. 13 overall.

This positioning was the result of the strong way the Raiders finished the season, winning three of four games and staging an offensive resurgence after an infamous shutout loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

The Vikings game took place in Week 14, the same point in the current NFL season. So the Raiders are thinking about changing their fortunes a week earlier this year – especially O’Connell, who spoke positively about the potential of a rebuilt offense under new coordinator Scott Turner.

“I was able to sit back and watch it happen for the first few weeks, learn and step into the background,” O’Connell said. “It’s been fun learning from a new coach and I think Scott is doing a great job of really showing us how he sees every game and we’re doing our best.”

Perhaps Turner’s biggest accomplishments since taking over for the fired Luke Getsy have been revitalizing the Raiders’ once-dormant running game and refusing to dictate plays for star rookie tight end Brock Bowers. Both trends should be of great benefit to O’Connell in the future.

Las Vegas tallied 116 rushing yards on 25 attempts at Kansas City, with longtime practice squad starter Sincere McCormick leading back with 12 carries for 64 yards. Bowers, meanwhile, posted a career-high 140 yards on 10 receptions and 14 targets.

O’Connell and Bowers never seemed to fully develop a relationship in training camp — that could be one of the reasons Minshew won the job — but there are signs that that’s the case now.

“You could probably use a lot of quarterbacks and the chemistry between them and Brock would be good,” O’Connell said. “He is a good player. I think a lot of our guys are like that. I watched a lot of practice clips and it’s not the same as being out there, but you learn a lot about how guys move and how they see certain routes and certain coverages. Brock, if you get him close he usually looks good.”

Pierce has insisted for weeks that the Raiders are not giving up on the season or slowing down, even though they have now lost eight games in a row. The Raiders are still doing everything they can to win, a mentality best encouraged by team captains like edge rusher Maxx Crosby and linebacker Robert Spillane.

Now there’s another force ready to push the Raiders forward, even if they’re just playing for pride. O’Connell is guaranteed to do everything he can to bring the best version of the Raiders’ offense to the field.

Playing well across the board might mean more to him than anyone else on the roster.

O’Connell’s job is at stake. He won’t give it up without a fight.

“I just think Aidan is getting out there and getting more and more reps,” Pierce said of the key to quarterback development. “I don’t think he’s started 17 times in his career. So to come back after a five or six week break and just throw the ball and be mentally sharp (was impressive). He was totally engaged and understood what we needed to do, especially during that two minute drive. He did a really good job there. I thought he was in charge of the offense.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or (email protected). Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or