The reviews are in and rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell has certainly caught everyone’s attention. The fourth-round pick started against the 49ers in Week 1 of the preseason and was nearly flawless in his first NFL action.
In a recent article by Chad Reuter of NFL.com, he graded a handful of rookies from Week 1 of the preseason. One of the players on the list was O’Connell, who got an “A” grade from Reuter. Here is a snippet of what he had to say about the former Purdue passer:
O’Connell threw multiple completions across his body to his left, getting the ball out on time and leading his targets to maximize the run after the catch. He threw a nice deep ball down the left sideline in the first half, but his receiver was unable to bring it in for what would have been a huge gain on third down.
The key for O’Connell moving forward will be consistency. Can he consistently be accurate and make the right decisions with the football? If the answer is yes, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him climb up the depth chart to No. 2 behind Jimmy Garoppolo.
Expect the Raiders to give him even more looks in Week 2 of the preseason as they try to get their rookie quarterback up to speed before the regular season starts. Given Garoppolo’s injury history, there is a chance that they’ll need to call on O’Connell at some point in the season.
