The NFL preseason is over and the cutdown to 53 players has happened across the league. Now, it’s time to look forward to the new season and Week 1.
But before we do that, let’s look back at the preseason and some of the players who helped themselves the most. That list includes rookie QB Aidan O’Connell, who was one of the stars of the exhibition games. O’Connell dominated in all three games and completed over 70 percent of his passes.
In a recent article by Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus, he named the biggest winners and losers of the 2023 preseason. And at the very top of the list was O’Connell, who might have been the most impressive quarterback in the preseason. Here is what Monson had to say about the fourth-round pick from Purdue:
No one improved their stock as much as rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell, who put together one of the best preseasons in the NFL. He finished with an 89.5 PFF grade and had 64 dropbacks across three games in which he saw significant time.
He didn’t make a single turnover-worthy play across those three games, something that blighted his college tape. The Raiders probably weren’t expecting much out of the fourth-rounder, but they are going to have to sit up and pay attention to him now as he enters the season as the third quarterback on the roster.
As Monson mentioned, there is a good chance that O’Connell will remain the No. 3 quarterback for most of the season. However, Josh McDaniels left the door open for O’Connell to compete with Brian Hoyer for the No. 2 job.
Moving forward, O’Connell is one of the more fun backup quarterbacks in the league with upside. And if he continues on this trajectory, maybe he could get a shot at a starting gig sooner rather than later.