The Las Vegas Raiders decided to make a change at the quarterback position during the 2023 campaign, with the team going from veteran Jimmy Garoppolo to rookie Aidan O'Connell in the wake of the firing of Josh McDaniels.
While he can't speak for everyone, wide receiver Davante Adams was a fan of the move. Adams, who is starring in the new Netflix docuseries "Receiver", said he "signed off on" the move before it was made official.
Not only that, Adams had his eye on the exit from Las Vegas if the team didn't make the switch (H/T Vegas Sports Today).
“Well my opinion on that, was I signed off on that. And that’s just the reality of it. You know, I love Jimmy and he’s a great guy, but something had to happen in order for us to have a stretch and in order for me to remain a Raider, in all honesty.”
After moving to O'Connell and head coach Antonio Pierce, the Raiders put together a strong second half of the season that saw the team go 5-4 and improve on both sides of the ball en route to an 8-9 record after a 3-5 start.
O'Connell had an up-and-down showing for sure, but he did finish the season strong. Now, the Purdue product is competing for the starting job against Gardner Minshew. Adams has said he believes O'Connell will be the starter in Week 1.
"I want whoever is going to look the best when it's live bullets," Adams said. "I think right now if I had to say, I think Aidan has the job because obviously he was here before and that's the way that it was. He was running with the one's more and until Gardner comes in and takes the job away from him, I think it's Aidan's job right now."
Having the approval of your star receiver is extremely important, something Jimmy G found out last year. Had Adams vouched for him, Garoppolo might've actually had a shot to keep his job.
