The biggest storyline of the Las Vegas Raiders' offseason is the quarterback competition between Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell, both of whom had a bounce-back performance at the latest open session of organized team activities.
During OTAs practice on Tuesday, both quarterbacks had a better showing than last week's open session, when the defense won the day. According to Tashan Reed of The Athletic, the two signal-callers continue to split first-team reps, which will likely be the case at least through the start of training camp. He added that they have "performed fairly evenly" with their opportunities.
Per Levi Edwards of Raiders.com, Minshew and O'Connell "stepped up to make some big throws to a variety of receivers" on Tuesday. Both quarterbacks also praised each other when addressing the media.
"I think he's super smart and he's super accurate," Minshew said of O'Connell, per Edwards. "As a young guy, he really understands football, understands progressions, timing, and it's fun to see him interact with the guys. He has a ton of energy."
"Gardner is a great guy. Really, what you see is really what you get," O'Connell said of Minshew. "He's been awesome with me. I think we do a good job of communicating with each other about what we're seeing and what we're thinking on each play."
In what is another sign of respect and the competitive nature Minshew has, he isn't just looking for his teammate to fail just so he can win the starting job. Instead, Minshew wants to elevate his game to be better than the best O'Connell has to offer.
"As any real competitor, you don't want them to get worse, you want yourself to be better," Minshew said. "So the better he is, if I'm beating him out that means I'm just raising it that much more. That's just how I've always viewed it. If he's pushing me, he's completing every pass, I've got to figure out a way to do better. I think that's only way to really ever improve."
Competing for a starting job is nothing new for these quarterbacks. O'Connell has been doing that since high school, he previously said, and Minshew is no stranger to having to earn his spot, either.
"(Competing is) not unique to us," O'Connell said. "That's in any position really, especially in this sport. Only one quarterback can play. Our stories are kind of both underdog stories, having to work to get to the point where we're at now."
By all accounts, this competition appears to be neck-and-neck going into minicamp next week, and don't expect it to be settled anytime soon.
