Aidan O'Connell Fantasy Football News | Shark Bites

The Raiders are signing QB Gardner Minshew to a 2-year, $25 million deal with $15 million guaranteed, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. That contract doesn't guarantee that Minshew will be the team's 2024 starter, but it at least makes him the favorite. With QB Jimmy Garoppolo set to be released, QB Aidan O'Connell currently stands as Minshew's competition. We'll see if the Raiders add anything else significant this offseason. They currently hold the 13th overall pick of April's draft. Minshew is good enough to keep an NFL offense on track but will not be an exciting fantasy option in Vegas. He averaged 229 passing yards and 1.1 TDs in 13 full games for the Colts last season. The Minshew addition does bring some stability to the fantasy outlooks of Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers, and Michael Mayer.

Raiders HC Antonio Pierce said from the Combine that the team's starting QB job is Aidan O'Connell's to lose, per Levi Edwards of the team's official website. With QB Jimmy Garoppolo expected to be released within the next couple of weeks and Brian Hoyer the only other QB on the roster, we wouldn't expect Pierce to say anything different. O'Connell was just ok as a fourth-round rookie last year, completing 62.1% of his passes at 6.5 yards per attempt with 12 TDs vs. seven INTs. He ranked 23rd among 30 qualifying QBs in Pro Football Focus' passing grades. We fully expect the Raiders to make a relatively significant addition at QB this offseason -- potentially a trade for QB Justin Fields or a drafting a first-round rookie. We're betting against O'Connell leading Vegas in 2024 passing attempts and wouldn't target him in early best-ball drafts.

QB Jimmy Garoppolo has been suspended two games for violating the NFL's Performance Enhancing Substances Policy, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Garoppolo reportedly used a banned medication without having an exception from the league. He will not appeal the suspension and will miss the first two games of the 2024 campaign. Schefter also confirms that the Raiders will release Garoppolo before the fifth day of the new league year in mid-March, saving the team an $11.25 million roster bonus. Garoppolo will be able to participate in the offseason program and training camp with his new team, despite the suspension. The Raiders, meanwhile, will be left with QBs Aidan O'Connell and Brian Hoyer. They'll certainly add to that group in free agency and/or the draft.

Kliff Kingsbury has pulled his name out of consideration for the Raiders' OC job, according to his agent. ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that contract talks between the two sides broke down late in the process. We'll see who the Raiders eventually land on as OC under HC Antonio Pierce. Kingsbury, meanwhile, is a "leading candidate" for the Commanders' OC job, per Schefter.

The Raiders are set to hire Kliff Kingsbury as their new OC under HC Antonio Pierce, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports. Kingsbury had an underwhelming tenure as Cardinals HC from 2019 to 2022, going 28-37-1 over those four seasons. He landed two of those teams inside the top 8 in total yards, but none cracked the top 10 in points. Kingsbury at least deployed fast-paced attacks, with three of his four offenses finishing top 3 in pace. We'll see exactly how Kingsbury meshes with the defensive-minded Pierce. The Raiders offense has some big questions to answer this offseason, with RB Josh Jacobs set to hit free agency and QB Jimmy Garoppolo a strong release candidate.

The Raiders clearly led Indianapolis in time of possession (by 6.5 minutes) and ran 74 plays to the Colts' 53 in Sunday's loss. That led to particularly big numbers in the passing game. QB Aidan O'Connell attempted a season-high 47 passes -- just six higher than his second-biggest total, but 13 ahead of No. 3. His 30 completions and 299 yards also easily set season highs. The big volume -- and Las Vegas playing catchup late -- produced a whopping 21 targets for WR Davante Adams. He caught 13 for 126 yards and 2 TDs. WR Jakobi Meyers followed with a 6-56 line on 10 targets. Adams drew a target on 44.7% of O'Connell's attempts, claimed 43.3% of his completions, and tallied 42.1% of the receiving yards. Meyers' 10 targets, meanwhile, accounted for a just OK 21.3% target share. Expect all those numbers to fall -- probably by quite a bit -- in the regular-season finale against the Broncos.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal's Vincent Bonsignore tweets that the Raiders are "leaning toward" starting QB Aidan O'Connell vs. the Giants this weekend. QB Jimmy Garoppolo was a disaster in Monday night's loss to the Lions, throwing for just 126 yards, 0 TDs, and one INT on 21 attempts. O'Connell wasn't great in his Week 4 start vs. the Chargers, averaging 6.1 yards per pass attempt with 0 TDs and one INT. But the 3-5 Raiders under interim HC Antonio Pierce are looking beyond 2023 at this point. We'll look for further updates on the Raiders' QB plans. We certainly wouldn't consider O'Connell an upgrade for Raiders pass catchers.

Update: NFL Network reports the Raiders are expected to start O'Connell "this week and going forward." We'll see how this trial goes.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that Raiders QB Jimmy Garoppolo (back) will not play vs. the Bears on Sunday. There's been no timetable given for Garoppolo's return. It's also unclear who will get the start at QB for Vegas this weekend. Rookie QB Aidan O'Connell got the nod when Garoppolo missed Week 4, struggling to 238 yards passing on 6.1 yards per attempt. Veteran QB Brian Hoyer replaced Garoppolo this past week, going 6-of-10 for 102 yards, 0 TDs, and 0 INTs. Neither guy should be in your Week 7 fantasy plans.

Raiders HC Josh McDaniels said Monday that QB Jimmy Garoppolo “dodged a big bullet” with regard to internal injuries, per NFL Network's Mike Garafolo. “The prognosis is a lot better than it might otherwise have been,” McDaniels added. Garoppolo is still undergoing further testing, and his status for Sunday's game vs. the Bears is uncertain.

Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers tallied just 2 grabs for 33 yards in Week 4. He had a 50-yard downfield catch negated by an offensive pass interference penality, but the real issue here was shaky play from rookie QB Aidan O’Connell. On the bright side: Jimmy Garoppolo (concussion) should return for Week 5 vs. Green Bay. Meyers notched 29.1 and 15.5 PPR points in two full games with Garoppolo.

The Raiders will start rookie QB Aidan O'Connell over QB Brian Hoyer vs. the Chargers today, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports. O'Connell got the "majority" of the practice reps by the end of the week, per Schefter. O'Connell finished his four-year career at Purdue with a 66.7% completion rate, 7.4 yards per attempt, and 65 TDs vs. 30 INTs. He went in the fourth round of this spring's draft but was a preseason standout, completing 69.4% of his passes for 482 yards, three TDs, and 0 INTs. He ranked second among 68 qualifiers in Pro Football Focus passing grade. O'Connell is obviously a major question mark heading into his first regular-season start. But he at least brings more upside than the 37-year-old Hoyer.

Raiders QB Jimmy Garoppolo is in the concussion protocol, HC Josh McDaniel said Monday. That leaves Garoppolo no better than 50/50 to play vs. the Chargers this weekend. QB Brian Hoyer is No. 2 on Vegas' depth chart; rookie QB Aidan O'Connell No. 3