super smart and he’s super accurate,” Minshew said of O’Connell. “As a young guy, he really understands football, understand his progressions, timing, and man, it’s fun to watch him interact with the guys. He has a ton of energy and it’s just a lot of fun to be around.”
Meanwhile, the Raiders are Minshew’s third team in the past three years. He has passed for 9,937 yards and 59 TDs with 37 INTs while completing 62.6% of his passes in his five-year career, in which he has compiled a 15-22 record as a starter.
“In this sport, only one quarterback can play,” O’Connell said. “We’ve both been around long enough and we both had to compete, really, our whole lives, and so I don’t think it’s really anything new for either of us.”
But after Garoppolo was slowed and eventually felled by injuries — foot, concussion, back — and ineffectiveness, he was benched by then-interim coach Antonio Pierce in favor of O’Connell. The rookie passed for 2,218 yards and 12 touchdowns with seven interceptions in 11 games, 10 of them starts. He completed 62.1% of his throws and went 5-5 as a starter but closed out strong, throwing eight TD passes without an interception in the Raiders’ final four games as Las Vegas went 3-1.
Especially when O’Connell was threading needles in finding tight ends in the end zone during red zone drills and Minshew was buying time rolling out before hitting running backs in the flat.
Yes, even as a new scheme is being installed under new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, and the players are running around in helmets and shorts.
The QB competition will truly ramp up in training camp. But until then …
“Gardner’s a great guy and … what you see is what you get and he’s been awesome with me,” O’Connell said. “I think we do a good job of communicating with each other with what we’re seeing, what we’re thinking on each play.
“We are both trying to learn this offense at the same time together and, also at the same time we are both the leaders of the offense. … We want to make sure the offense is running smoothly and we’re executing. So it’s been a fun competition.”
