The Las Vegas Raiders have one of the biggest position battles going on in the league. It's one of the very few quarterback battles in the entire league in terms of guys battling for that starting position. The Raiders have a good problem, though.
They have two guys good enough to be starters in this league. The real problem is figuring out who's going to be the starter. They have had some good competition so far this offseason. But the Raiders have so much riding on their quarterback. They have an amazing roster, but if the QB play is bad, none of that matters.
So, they have to make sure the best guy is the one who gets the starting job. So far, the competition is good.
"I think it's been awesome," Aidan O'Connell said. "Gardner [Minshew II] is a great guy, and he's really what you see is what you get, and he's been awesome with me. I think we do a good job of communicating with each other about what we're seeing and what we're thinking on each play because 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.
"And so, we want to make sure when we go out to practices, it's a good practice. So, we want to make sure the offense is running smoothly, and we're executing. So, it's been a fun competition."
O'Connell took over for Jimmy Garoppolo last season when Antonio Pierce was named the interim head coach. He was okay. He had some great games, but he also had some really bad games. And, he will be the first one to tell you that.
With Minshew, he started some great games last year as well, and was basically in the same boat, as he also got the Indianapolis Colts close to the playoffs.
"It's been great, man," Minshew said at OTAs. "I think we both put together a good camp so far, man, been pushing each other. But also just enjoying each other and our room. We got an awesome room not only with Aidan [O'Connell] but with Anthony [Brown Jr.] and Carter [Bradley]. We're having a ton of fun right now being very competitive, and I think that's only going to make our team better."
The Raiders certainly have options. And, don't forget to keep an eye on the battle for the third quarterback spot. But, as far as starters go, they didn't get their rookie QB. But, they do have two guys who have shown they can win games.
