Antonio Pierce has made his decision.
The Las Vegas Raiders head coach, per multiple reports, has informed the team that Gardner Minshew will be the starting quarterback for Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season. Las Vegas takes on AFC West rivals the Los Angeles Chargers to open their 2024 slate.
Minshew had been locked in a training camp battle with second-year passer Aidan O’Connell to begin the year, with neither passer truly emerging throughout the Raiders’ two preseason games. In their preseason opener, a 24-23 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Minshew completed 6-of-12 passes for 117 yards and a touchdown, while O’Connell hit on 7-of-9 passes for 76 yards.
Saturday against the Dallas Cowboys — a game Dallas won by a final score of 27-12 — O’Connell led the way by completing 14-of-20 passes for 96 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Minshew, who started the game for Las Vegas, completed just 10-of-21 passes for 95 yards.
Following the game Pierce talked about the QB battle.
“I’m going to go all the way back to OTAs, minicamp, training camp, two preseason games,” Pierce said. “And there’s going to be a lot of factors, obviously, right? Command of the offense, the operational part, efficiency. The turnovers is huge — that shows up — taking care of the football’s going to be important for our team.
“And then … sitting there with [General Manager Tom] Telesco and [Offensive Coordinator] Luke [Getsy] over the next couple of days and just really pinpointing who’s going to get us off to a fast start to get to where we want to be in that first quarter of the season.”
O’Connell went 5-5 last year in his ten starts for the Raiders. Minshew, signed as a free agent by Las Vegas this offseason, nearly led the Indianapolis Colts to the playoffs a season ago after Anthony Richardson went down with an early-season injury.