Coinciding with the loss of Gardner Minshew, the Raiders brought their former starter, Aidan O'Connell, back from injured reserve and he will be the starter on Friday when the Raiders take on the Chiefs in Kansas City.
“I feel good about Aidan,” head coach Antonio Pierce said. “He's obviously been involved the whole time he's been on IR, he's been in all the meetings, he's been very encouraging on the sidelines, he's got that laser-eye focus at the moment. Great opportunity for him.”
O'Connell had been named the team's starter in Week 6 ahead of Minshew, and in his second start he suffered a broken thumb that landed him on IR. This is the first week he was eligible to return, but it came down to whether Pierce thought he was ready to go right away or not.
To do that, he needed to see how he throws the ball and how he dominates the offense. Since it was a short week, he only had two days to get an idea of O'Connell's readiness. He's seen enough to call and nod.
“He acted like a starter,” Pierce continued.
“You can just look him in the eye, look at his demeanor, it wasn't a guy like 'I'm out for the season,' no, it was 'I'm coming back, I'm ready to be back,' and him made the effort to come back.
O'Connell won his start at Arrowhead on Christmas Day last season and will be back in time to try again.
If O'Connell hadn't been ready, Desmond Ridder would have started instead. Ridder will be his replacement for the game.
