Mailbag: Who benefits most with O’Connell as starting QB?

The Las Vegas Raiders are heading into their Week 6 matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a “new” starting quarterback as Aidan O’Connell is taking over for Gardner Minshew. Also, trade rumors with Davante Adams are still swirling, so we have plenty to go over for this week’s mailbag.

Q: Who do you think will benefit the most with AOC being named the starter?

A: Tre Tucker.

Tucker has had a solid start to the season with 18 catches for 190 yards and a touchdown, but he’s only been notably productive in two games—against Carolina and Cleveland. Those are also the only outings where he’s had more than five targets.

He and O’Connell seem to have good chemistry together, and I think a big part of it has to do with them being in the same draft class. It’s no coincidence that the wideout’s production went up last season after O’Connell took over as the starter, so I think he’ll get more balls his way after the quarterback change.

A: I don’t think the play-calling for the passing game will change all that much.

There have been plenty of instances where receivers are open, Gardner Minshew just wasn’t throwing the ball or started scrambling and dropping his eyes. So, I think/hope the biggest difference is we’ll see O’Connell be more decisive, get the ball out faster and play within structure more often.

Minshew’s freelancing was a big issue and O’Connell is the opposite type of player. Albeit, too far in the opposite direction. If we could just morph them into one quarterback, they’d be perfect!

A: At this point, I’ll say O’Connell because I expect the Raiders to draft a quarterback and be patient with throwing a rookie quarterback into the fire. I wouldn’t be surprised if whoever they take ends up being on a similar trajectory as Drake Maye this year where the organization slow-plays it and is extra cautious to make sure the young quarterback is ready to hit the field.

Q: If this season continues to tailspin, do you think Antonio Pierce’s job is in question? Or do you think Mark Davis gives him another season regardless of the result? Same question for Tom Telesco.

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

A: It’s a fair question, but I think Davis has to give Pierce and Telesco at least two seasons at the helm. The Raiders have been plagued by constant turnover, especially at head coach, over the last 20 years and look where it’s gotten them. Stability is important and constantly changing the team’s leadership creates dysfunction.

Plus, if Pierce gets fired at the end of the year, I don’t think the job opening will be attractive to the top head coach candidates in the offseason given the instability. AP was viewed as Las Vegas’ guy or a shoo-in last year. So, from an outside hire’s perspective, if he can get canned after one bad year, what would make me think I won’t if things don’t go smoothly next season?

Telesco certainly has his faults, but giving a general manager just one season to build a team is malpractice, in my opinion. It often takes several years to rework a roster and the point above stability remains the same with that position.

As for what will actually happen, that I’m not sure about. Davis has had a quick hook with coaches in the past and I’ve learned to expect the unexpected when it comes to the Raiders.

Q: Matt, with the struggles the Raiders have had so far this year, do you think there’s any chance management will finally understand the game is won in the trenches and offensive line and defensive line depth are key?

A: Don’t get me wrong, the offensive line has struggled and the Raiders’ lack of depth on the defensive line has been an issue this season. But I think the front office understands that they need to address the trenches. Telesco’s biggest free-agent signing, Christian Wilkins, was a defensive tackle and two out of his first three draft picks were offensive linemen, Jackson Powers-Johnson and DJ Glaze.

Does Telesco need to continue to address the trenches this offseason? Absolutely. But it’s not like he ignored the offensive and defensive lines last spring.

Q: Is it too early to fire the entire offensive coaching staff?

A: Yes, lol.

Q: Kolton Miller is really struggling so far this season. Is it time to move him to right tackle next season? His struggles may still be injury-related but he’s had a good run at left tackle. Maybe at this point in his career, he’s better suited to switching. RT is still an issue because neither Thayer Munford nor DJ Glaze looks to be the answer. This could solve the problem at right tackle and the Raiders begin their search for a new left tackle in the offseason.

A: Miller’s skillset doesn’t really fit the right tackle profile because he’s always been a solid to good but not a great run blocker. Also, he hasn’t played on the right side since 2016 when he was at UCLA, and asking an older player to line up at a position he hasn’t played in nearly a decade isn’t as easy as most people think it is. You have to relearn your footwork while having more mileage on your body and being less athletic.

In regards to Glaze, he’s played in three games so give him more time before writing him off. Munford has been around longer but he still doesn’t have much starting experience and has only played in two games this season. In other words, we need to have a little more patience.

To me, the move is to keep Miller at left tackle next season, which will be a contract year for him, and continue to let Munford and Glaze battle it out. Granted, things could change by the end of 2024, but that’s where I’m at right now.

Q: What do you think the Raiders will eventually get from Decamerion Richardson?

A: I broke down Richardson’s game and shared some thoughts on him back in May via the related article below. I don’t think Las Vegas will get much from him this season, but I like his traits and potential to be a solid starting cornerback down the line.

Q: Are the Raiders in the same coverage scheme as last season? There seem to be too many coverage breakdowns for another season in the same system.

A: Patrick Graham is calling more man/Cover 1 than last season which has led to a few coverage breaks. In most of the secondary’s coverage busts, it’s clear that one corner thought they were passing off a receiver, and the other corner thought they were supposed to stick with their man, leading to two defensive backs covering one receiver and another receiver being wide open.

A: A big part of it is the defense struggles to wrap up and tackle, so they aren’t able to punch the ball out and that’s why they have zero forced fumbles on the year. For interceptions, Jack Jones is the team’s ball hawk, but Jones has been giving up a lot of separation so far this year. It’s hard to get a pick when you’re not near the target/ball!

The one silver lining is the Raiders rank tied for 11th with 22 passes defended, so more interceptions will come if they can keep that up. That means defenders are around the ball, they just aren’t picking it off. But, obviously, this has been one of the defense’s biggest issues so far.

Q: If the Raiders are in evaluation mode after Sunday, is center a position in question?

A: Based on how Andre James has played this season, I would say so, but his contract could throw that for a loop. According to Over The Cap, the Raiders would only save about $3.3 million of cap space while taking on about $5.6 million of dead cap with a post-June 1 cut in the offseason.

However, I don’t think it would be out of the question to draft someone with the idea being that the rookie will compete with James for the starting spot and eventually take over. James’ contract has an out heading into 2026 where the team would save roughly $7.1 million and take on just $1.7 million of dead cap space.

In other words, I think James will be back next year but how he plays for the rest of the season will determine how much of a push the front office makes to bring in some competition during the offseason.

A: It’s gotten better and I think Miller has been playing better since the start of the season (another reason not to overreact to a slow start and keep him at left tackle). Powers-Johnson has been an upgrade over Cody Whitehair but, as one would expect, the rookie has certainly had his ups and downs.

JPJ had a tough time against Zach Allen last week, but he also put together some encouraging reps (see the TDL episode below where Marcus touches on that). Glaze hasn’t had as many “highlights” so to speak, but he’s been about the same in that he’s been up and down.

Dylan Parham has been pretty steady and the best offensive lineman throughout the season, but last week in Denver was his worst game of the season. Parham also struggled against Allen and DJ Jones gave him some trouble as well.

So, there have been improvements but there’s still plenty of room for growth.

A: Alexander Mattison or Zamir White, gap/power runs are still the Raiders’ most efficient running plays. Marcus broke down the numbers in the post/tweet below. It’s been a slow process but Luke Getsy is starting to adapt a bit. Hopefully, the splits between zone and gap runs favor the latter moving forward.

According ot Q Meyers of the Locked On Raiders Podcast, Michael Mayer is dealing with a personal issue that is “a situation that has occurred in his life before.” I don’t know what that means exactly but this sounds like a situation that’s bigger than football. I think it’s best to leave it be, hope he’s doing alright and let him take care of whatever is going on.

A: I broke down Isaiah Pola-Mao’s first start in the article below, and his performance was pretty impressive. Last week was more of a neutral performance so we’ll see how the rest of the season plays out.

I don’t think Marcus Epps will be brought back since he’s an average player and is going to be coming off a significant knee injury. Tre’von Moehrig could take over the leadership role in theory, but he’s also an impending free agent and hasn’t been playing well so far this season.

Q: Think I ask this question once a year at this point…..Matt, will the pain ever stop?

A: I got a couple of questions like this and the answer is, never.

This is the life we’ve chosen and it won’t change until they put dirt on our faces, lol.

That’ll do it for this week’s mailbag. Thank you all for submitting questions and, as your weekly reminder, if you’d like to have your questions answered in a future column, tweet them at me, @MHolder95, email them to [email protected] or look for our weekly call for questions on the site. The latter will continue to publish on Thursdays.