Aidan O'Connell gets 1st snap of QB battle with Gardner Minshew - ESPN

HENDERSON, Nev. — While the Las Vegas Raiders' Jayden Daniels-or-bust game plan ended without the rookie, their pending quarterback battle between the returning Aidan O'Connell and veteran free agent signee Gardner Minshew has an early leader.

«Aidan's earned the right to go out there and earn the first snap,» Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said Friday. «What he's done this offseason — changing his body, his work ethic, being here every day, blocking out the outside noise. He's not worried about anything. I'm excited.

»Then you bring Gardner in here… talk about personality.… It's great. It's great for our building. It's great for our quarterback room. And if you got competition in the quarterback room, what does every other room look at?"

The Raiders had been heavily linked to Daniels, as Pierce brought him to Arizona State when he was the Sun Devils' recruiting coordinator. But the Washington Commanders were set on the Heisman Trophy winner who had transferred to LSU and selected Daniels with the No. 2 overall pick.

By the time the Raiders were on the clock at No. 13, six quarterbacks had been drafted. Las Vegas went with the best player available on its board and took three-time All-America tight end Brock Bowers out of Georgia.

Raiders general manager Tom Telesco said after the draft that no trade opportunity to move up arose in the first round and that they had no interest in drafting a quarterback after Day 1.

Instead, O'Connell and Minshew have been steady presences at the Raiders' facility throughout the offseason workout program. The Raiders also have two other quarterbacks on the roster in Anthony Brown Jr. and undrafted rookie Carter Bradley, who signed out of South Alabama after the draft.

«What I see is guys