The Las Vegas Raiders are playing a game of musical chairs at quarterback between Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell, though whoever lands in the driver's seat finds it to be hot almost immediately.
Minshew snagged the job during the preseason, then coughed it up in the third quarter of the team's Week 5 blowout loss to the Denver Broncos. Meanwhile O'Connell, who had the gig at the end of last season, is already inspiring questions across the league about how long he'll remain QB1.
"Don't get your hopes up for Aidan O'Connell, who is 1-for-6 with an interception and a 2.1 passer rating on deep attempts," Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report wrote on October 11. "We haven't seen the last of Gardner Minshew II in Las Vegas."
Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Aidan O'Connell.
Candice Ward-Imagn Images
A potentially long-term answer under center may not come until the 2025 NFL draft in the form of Cam Ward of the Miami Hurricanes or Shedeur Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes. However, a shorter-term solution could materialize ahead of the league's November 5 trade deadline.
Among the most likely of starting-caliber quarterbacks to find himself on the trade block inside of the next month is Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams. His team is 1-4 and ravaged by injury, plus Stafford is in the middle of a pricey $160 million contract that the Rams have no reason to hang onto if they aren't going to compete in 2024.
"The Rams quarterback quite possibly is in his last season with the team, regardless of whether the Rams can reverse a 1-4 start," Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wrote Saturday. "If the Rams might parlay the remainder of his 2024 contract into draft pick(s) and he could get a fresh start elsewhere, it makes sense to at least consider it."
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images
Picking up Stafford might render the Raiders less inclined to trade star wide receiver Davante Adams, who has asked out of Las Vegas and will miss his third straight game this weekend with a hamstring strain.
It would certainly raise the performance ceilings of wideout Jakobi Meyers and budding star tight end Brock Bowers, while also rendering the Raiders (2-3) more competitive in the AFC West Division as well as the conference as a whole.
The 36-year-old Stafford -- who has thrown for more than 57,000 yards, 360 TDs and 183 INTs over the course of his career -- won a Super Bowl with the Rams following the 2021 season.
Given Stafford's salary and the Rams' need for viable QBs for the remainder of the season, the Raiders sending Minshew to L.A. to join Jimmy Garoppolo as part of the deal would make sense.
