New head coach Raheem Morris and the Atlanta Falcons took the opposite approach this offseason at quarterback from what the Las Vegas Raiders did after they announced they were making interim head coach Antonio Pierce their permanent leader. General manager Tom Telesco’s decision could eventually cost Pierce his job.
The Atlanta Falcons went aggressive at QB this spring
Morris told reporters at the NFL Combine that he probably wouldn’t be the Falcons’ head coach if they had better quarterback play following Matt Ryan’s departure from the team. The Falcons loaded up on talent at the NFL’s premier position, signing Kirk Cousins in free agency and drafting Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick.
While the Falcons were willing to take a risk by making an unpopular draft pick in the first round, Telesco chose to play it safe and waited to select tight end Brock Bowers. Bowers will join fellow tight end and 2023 second-round pick Michael Mayer on the offense in the upcoming season. Following OTAs, it’s still unclear who will throw them the ball.
Tom Telesco is happy with Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew
Reports came out before the draft that Pierce wanted to draft a quarterback this year. (Pierce wanted Jayden Daniels, but the eventual No. 2 pick was a long shot for the Raiders.) Pierce was worried about being stuck in the same situation that got Arthur Smith fired in Atlanta. Telesco felt quarterback competition between Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew would suffice this offseason.
The results at OTAs weren’t pretty:
Both Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew struggled during OTAs. They split snaps with the first string fairly evenly, but neither found much success during the practices that were open to reporters. The quarterbacks (and the rest of the offense) are still in the early stages of getting comfortable in coordinator Luke Getsy’s offense. Understandably, there have been some growing pains, but it’s still troubling that neither O’Connell nor Minshew displayed much progress results-wise by the end of OTAs.
Both quarterbacks struggled to push the ball downfield, had too many off-target throws and frequently put the ball in harm’s way. The Raiders will need better than that to avoid the offense being a liability yet again. The good news is there’s still plenty of time for O’Connell and Minshew to get better in training camp before the season arrives.
The Raiders have plenty of weapons for Minshew and O’Connell to target. Unfortunately, most of the problems appear to be on the quarterbacks and maybe offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. They’ll have to make a giant leap in the preseason if the Raiders have any chance of surviving a brutal AFC West.
