Silver Minings: Josh McDaniels discusses keeping 3 quarterbacks

The Las Vegas Raiders held their last training camp practice yesterday as they prepare for their final preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday. That also means cutdown day is around the corner—Tuesday, August 29—so naturally, reporters asked head coach Josh McDaniels about how he plans to shape the roster.

While Jimmy Garoppolo is the Raiders’ unquestioned starter to begin the campaign, Las Vegas still has an interesting quarterback battle between backups Brian Hoyer and Aidan O’Connell to keep tabs on. O’Connell’s play in the preseason over the last two weeks suggests he’s ready for the QB2 role, however, the Silver and Black could still roster three signal-callers.

“I mean it’s it depends on whether you feel like that’s a necessity in a specific week or a game,” McDaniels replied when asked about how finding the best group of players changes with three quarterbacks on the roster. “Again, if you carry a third quarterback on the roster, then you have the ability to do that obviously.

“...So, some teams will choose to do it, some teams won’t. We’ve chosen to do both things in the past where I’ve been and last year. So, we’ll see how it kind of unfolds. But I think each team will make their own decision.

“I think one of the reasons why the rule was put into play, obviously was a very unique situation, uncommon. We all know that. So, I don’t know that everybody will overreact to it and then carry three guys just because of what happened last year.”

The ‘rule’ McDaniels is referring to is the league’s decision to allow teams to keep three quarterbacks active on gameday. But one, or the third QB, won’t count toward the 48-player roster limit. Coincidentally, that’s likely in response to avoiding the situation Garoppolo’s old team, the San Francisco 49ers, were in during the NFC Championship where both of the 49ers’ active quarterbacks got injured during the game.

However, there’s one catch to this new procedure, all three quarterbacks must be on the 53-man roster. Hence why it might make sense for Las Vegas to keep both O’Connell and Hoyer in the building.

Of course, nothing is set in stone right now and we’ll have to wait and see what happens next Tuesday.

In other Raiders’ links:

• NFL new campaign: “To kick off the ‘23 season, the NFL debuted “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up,” the humorous campaign that features actor and comedian KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY and some of the league’s biggest names,” the league said in a memo, and a link to the corresponding videos can be found via the following hyperlink.
• Bubble watch: 5 players who need a strong performance this weekend versus the Cowboys.
• Tre Tucker’s growing pains met with progress: “Raiders rookie wide receiver had rough go initially against Rams but then made plays to show mental toughness,” via Silver and Black Pride’s Ray Aspuria.
• Starters unlikely to play Saturday: “I don’t know that we are going to put some guys out there again,” McDaniels said in his Wednesday press conference, via Pro Football Talk. “Like I said, the four joint practices really were huge for us because there was a huge chunk of work that those guys got in those practices.”