The Las Vegas Raiders’ Week 6 tilt against the Pittsburgh Steelers took a turn with the announcement that QB Gardner Minshew, and his 2-3 record, will be benched in favor of Aidan O’Connell. This is the second time in O’Connell’s two year career that he began the year as a backup and was pressed into starter duties.

The Raiders’ off-season was highlighted by a “competition” at QB between incumbent O’Connell and FA signing Minshew. Fans with memories of O’Connell’s rookie performances still on their minds expected him to win the job. Instead, the honor was passed to Minshew in a move that some people believe was Antonio Pierce capitulating to OC Luke Getsy and/or GM Tom Telesco. Pierce’s comments that Minshew was the starter “but both will see significant playing time this season” was interpreted to mean that he was in the O’Connell camp all along. Some fans also speculate that Davante Adams’ desire to be traded stems from his advocacy for O’Connell, as well. The chance that this decision means Adams won’t push a trade when he’s healthy remains a possibility.

O’Connell didn’t look great coming off the bench against Denver in Week 5, but that was a defense that has been tough in 2024. For Week 6, O’Connell may see an opportunity to provide fantasy relevance. His main targets will be fantasy TE1 Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers, who has 28 targets in the last 3 weeks. O’Connell will be asked to mitigate mistakes which is something he did in 2023, being the only QB in the NFL without a turnover in the season’s final 4 weeks. O’Connell had three top 13 finishes in those four weeks, including finishing as QB3 in Week 15 with a 4 TD game against the Chargers. He lacks rushing upside so he is safer in 6pt TD leagues.