Aidan O'Connell

The Las Vegas Raiders have announced the hiring of Tom Telesco for their vacant GM position. Telesco, the former Chargers GM, takes the reigns from interim GM Champ Kelly., who took over mid-season after the ouster of Dave Ziegler.

Telesco will be in charge of the team architecture and feelings about that seem mixed. While the Chargers were perennial media darlings based on the Telesco-headed roster construction, the results were not translated to the field. The Chargers have seemed to be the “on paper” champions while constantly underperforming. Some say the blame for that should lay, solely, at the feet of former HC Brandon Staley.

Though it remains to be seen what Telesco’s direction for the Raiders will ultimately be, Telesco’s history suggests he may want to acquire Oregon QB Bo Nix in the draft. The Raiders hold the 13th pick in the first round, and while Nix is not expected to be drafted that high, trading out and dropping to get Nix later, or drafting the 13th and using other capital to move up for Nix are also possibilities.

A move up for Jayden Daniels is also an option. The LSU QB played at Arizona State while new Raiders HC Antonio Pierce was an Associate Head Coach. Drafting Nix or Daniels wouldn’t bode well for the future of Aidan O’Connell as the Raiders’ starter at QB.

With the firing of Head Coach Josh McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler, the Raiders’ interim staff, led by Head Coach Antonio Pierce, has chosen to start rookie Aidan O’Connell at QB over Jimmy Garoppolo.

The firings of McDaniels and Ziegler, as well as the benching of Jimmy G, came as welcome and long-overdue to Raider Nation after a start to the season that left the fans a little more than “disgruntled.” Garoppolo, who signed as a free agent after the unceremonious ousting of Raiders Legend Derek Carr, performed terribly, at best, while missing two games to injuries.

O’Connell, the rookie 4th round draft pick from Purdue, looked poised and efficient in his first start against the Chargers, until a terrible McDaniels play-call led to a game-ending interception and the loss. The news must also come as relief for owners of Raiders pass catchers. Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers will both benefit from a more accurate deep-passer.

With back injury to Jimmy Garoppolo, the Las Vegas Raiders have given veteran QB Brian Hoyer the starting assignment in Week 7 as they travel to Chicago to face the Bears. Rookie Aidan O’Connell who started during Jimmy G’s previous absence will serve as Hoyer’s backup.

Hoyer was pushed into backup duty in Week 6 against the Patriots after Garoppolo left the game. His 6/10, 102 yard performance was all the Raiders needed to see to give him the start.

Raider Nation is upset by the move as they would prefer to see a promising rookie than a veteran with a mediocre track record. The fact that Hoyer has a stronger arm than Garoppolo and can target deep routes may just open up the Raiders’ offense and Hoyer should be considered a deep sleeper in an emergency fantasy situation.

For the second time this season Las Vegas Raiders will be less handsome this week as they travel to Chicago to face the Bears. Jimmy “Jimmy G” Garoppolo has been ruled out after suffering a back injury in last week’s victory against the New England Patriots. Garoppolo has not played a full season’s compliment of games since 2019 with the 49ers.

Davante Adams has seen 5 different quarterbacks in his stint with the Raiders including 4 different QBs in his last 7 games. Whether he will be improving the overall fantasy performance of Raiders backup Brian Hoyer, or rookie 4th Round pick Aidan O’Connell has not been announced yet.

O’Connell looked sharp in his lone start this season but committed standard rookie mistakes. Hoyer showed off his superiority over Garoppolo with the deep-ball and threw for 102 yards in his brief stint against New England. Either quarterback should benefit from the increased usage of rookie TE Michael Mayer and the ability of rookie WR Tre Tucker to stretch the Bears vulnerable pass defense, while Adams and Jakobi Meyers provide the bulk of the Raiders’ passing-game threat.