Raiders QB talks new role, hidden talent in Q&A

Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell has been through a lot in his NFL career between injuries and franchise turmoil.

He is working with his sixth offensive play-caller and he’s only in his third NFL season.

O’Connell, a 2023 fourth-round pick out of Purdue, has also kept a low profile for someone who has made 17 NFL starts.

The 27-year-old entered this year as Geno Smith’s backup, but suffered a wrist injury in the preseason and was on injured reserve the Raiders’ first 10 games.

He was moved to the active roster last week and served as the team’s emergency third quarterback during its 24-10 loss to the Browns on Nov. 23.

O’Connell sat down with the Review-Journal this week to discuss the ups and downs of his young career, his new role and one of his hidden talents:

RJ: Football wasn’t your first love. Do you still ever dream about what it would be like to be in MLB or the NBA?

O’Connell: I’d say the MLB was my first love. That was when I was really little. Loved playing baseball. Then it kind of transitioned to basketball when I got to middle school. Loved AAU basketball and grew up a huge Marquette basketball fan because that’s where my parents went to school. I always wanted to play basketball for Marquette.

RJ: You grew up in a household with six children. What was Thanksgiving like with a big family that included five boys?

O’Connell: It was crazy. We did a Turkey Bowl. We had a big field at the end of our driveway and would have neighbors over and friends and family. Turkey Bowl in the morning and then kind of transition into playing basketball throughout the afternoon.

RJ: You didn’t have any Division I offers. What advice do you have to kids who dream of playing in college, but haven’t been noticed by recruiters?

O’Connell: Definitely been there. It’s hard. Sometimes you think you deserve more looks than you’re getting. I would say nothing other than the cliche things. Keep your head down. Keep working. I was blessed enough to have some situations go my way to get me to this point. So you just have to keep knocking on the door because you never know what’s going to happen.

RJ: Former NFL quarterback David Blough, who is now a coach with the Commanders, was a big influence on you. What did you learn from him?

O’Connell: David was huge for me. He was there my first two years at Purdue and was a starter in and out of playing time like me. Great guy. Great player and an awesome guy off the field. Was a big mentor for me. Taught me a lot about football, but also a lot about life.

RJ: Former UNLV coach Barry Odom is now at your alma mater: Purdue. Where do you stand on him with his first season about to wrap up?

O’Connell: I have all the support for Coach Odom. The Big Ten these days is really hard to win in. You have to play a lot of good teams. He has my support. It’s going to take a couple years to turn it around, but I believe in him.

RJ: What is an interesting note about yourself that you can share?

O’Connell: I’m pretty boring. I am the best golfer on the team. But besides that, nothing really much.

RJ: How good are you?

O’Connell: I’m like an eight or a nine handicap. So pretty solid. Low 80s. Good enough to beat these guys.

RJ: You don’t really seem like a prototypical “Vegas” guy. How have you and your wife adjusted?

O’Connell: We’ve loved living here. You can stay pretty low-key if you want to. It’s kind of weird because there are actually small town vibes if you actually live here and we’ve enjoyed that a lot. Obviously, if you want to go to a fun dinner or show or something on The Strip, you can. But that’s a pretty special occasion for us.

RJ: You’re about to work with your sixth play-caller in three seasons. How difficult is that for a quarterback?

O’Connell: Definitely not how I planned it. Just trying to learn as much as I can from each guy. I tell people I had one coach in college for six years, which is not very common. So I think by the law of averages I was bound to have some coaching changes.

RJ: You’ve had some success as an NFL quarterback, but you’ve also been through a lot of losing. How tough has that been?

O’Connell: It’s been hard. I think the number one thing we all want to do is win, so when you don’t, whether you play well or play bad, it’s difficult and it wears on me and wears on my teammates and coaches. Obviously, with all the changes, it’s been really hard.

RJ: What is game day like when you are the emergency third quarterback?

O’Connell: It’s different. I’m just trying to help out where I can. I think sometimes there can be too many cooks in the kitchen around the starting quarterback, so trying to offer Geno the support I can when I feel he needs me, but also trying to stay out of the way when I feel like he doesn’t.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.