The Las Vegas Raiders suffered yet another injury at the quarterback position in Week 12 after Gardner Minshew came down with what is expected to be a season-ending issue against the Denver Broncos.
Minshew injured his collarbone in the fourth quarter against Denver when he was sacked. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the veteran signal-caller has a broken collarbone and will miss the rest of the season.
Quarterback Desmond Ridder stepped in after Minshew left the game, but he didn't have any success and lost a fumble just a few plays later.
With Minshew now out for the season, that begs the question: is Aidan O'Connell coming back anytime soon? Here's the latest injury update on the former fourth-rounder.
Aidan O'Connell injury update
O'Connell suffered a fractured thumb in the Week 7 game against the Los Angeles Rams and was given a timeline of four to six weeks. O'Connell is currently in the fourth week of that timeline and is eligible to return from injured reserve this week.
And, that is apparently the plan for the Purdue product, per The Athletic's Tashan Reed and Vic Tafur, both of whom are reporting that they expect O'Connell to be back for the Friday contest against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 13.
O'Connell replaced Minshew after he was benched earlier in the season, but he didn't get much of an opportunity after going down with the injury in his second start. One would assume he'll get the keys to the car the rest of the way.
The only thing that could prevent that is if the Raiders sign former New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who is expected to clear waivers on Monday.
Rapoport reported earlier in the day that the Raiders "like" Jones and he could be an option for them, but ESPN's Adam Schefter poured cold water on that, saying Jones will likely prefer to join a contending team.
Of course, Jones could view the Raiders as a landing spot because they could give him a chance to start down the stretch, but Las Vegas is also a mess offensively and wouldn't be any better than the situation he just left.
From the Raiders' perspective, Jones might end up being an upgrade, which would not be ideal because Las Vegas needs to be losing from here on out in order to secure the highest draft pick possible.
On the plus side, signing Jones would give the Raiders a shot to get a comp pick in 2025 if he moves on and signs with another team in free agency and his salary meets the requirement.
