The Las Vegas Raiders are, to put it lightly, going in a new direction. Owner Mark Davis has fired head coach Josh McDaniels, GM Dave Ziegler and offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi. Linebackers coach Antonio Pierce has been promoted to interim head coach, while quarterback Aidan O’Connell will start ahead of Jimmy Garoppolo moving forward.
O’Connell had a strong preseason, but also had an inconsistent start in Week 4 against the Chargers with Garoppolo out with an injury. In that game, he completed 24-of-39 passes for 238 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, and ran for a touchdown. He was also sacked seven times, mostly by Khalil Mack.
Fantasy outlook for Aidan O’Connell
O’Connell isn’t likely to become a top quarterback in the league, but he’s shown enough to be given a shot. And with Davante Adams to throw to, he could have some fantasy appeal as a spot starter. Much will rely on matchups as the season progresses. A start at home against the Giants should be a good test to see if he can have fantasy upside.
How QB change impacts Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers, Josh Jacobs
In his one start, O’Connell targets Adams 13 times, Josh Jacobs 11, and then Jakobi Meyers and Hunter Renfrow four times each. For a rookie it makes sense to target one of the best receivers in the league or check it down to your top running back with Mack breathing down your neck on each dropback.
We can’t expect O’Connell to be a savior for this offense, but if he can get the ball to Adams, then he’ll be doing what they are asking of him. Garoppolo’s two huge misses on deep passes to a wide open Adams in Week 9, which made Adams visibly upset and probably had a lot to do with moving on from the head coach and QB, who were hand in hand.
We can’t expect O’Connell to be a big upgrade on Garoppolo and he could even be a downgrade, but I do expect him to force-feed Adams and use Jacobs as a checkdown quite a bit. That could leave Jakobi Meyers in trouble, but he always seems to earn targets when the team actually moves the ball.
