Las Vegas Raiders backup quarterback Aidan O’Connell suffered a fractured right wrist during the team’s preseason finale against the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday night. He trained the injury in the first quarter after being strip-sacked. This leaves the Raiders in a precarious position as they approach the new season. Now needing to move to O’Connell for at least 6-8 weeks, the team is essentially changing their approach to the quarterback position.
His first action in the Raiders’ 20-10 loss in Arizona, which ended a wild preseason for O’Connell. He’s played the fewest career games among all 17 career game starters. Through it all, he proved his potential by accumulating 3,830 passing yards, 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in that span. This injury is the latest in a series of tough luck for the young field general. Last year he was out for multiple weeks due to a broken thumb.
O’Connell’s training camp play, particularly under head coach Pete Carroll, has been shaky at best. He threw four turnovers over three preseason games, with three of those being interceptions. This fight has understandably put his ability as the backup front-runner coming into the regular season into question.
“We don’t play as quick from huddle to the snap,” noted Carroll, highlighting the team’s need for improvement in their overall offensive rhythm. With O’Connell out, the Raiders are still hungry to try other options with their quarterback situation. In that sense, Cam makes for a very intriguing candidate to take the baton in the meantime while O’Connell is recovering.
“All possibilities are available right now.” – Pete Carroll
As the team moves through this injury, they’ll look to do so while building some depth and keeping their highly touted offense among the league’s most dynamic. Losing O’Connell would be a considerable blow to the game plan. It is doubly so if the starters go down with injuries in the opening weeks of the season.
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