Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce has named Gardner Minshew the Raiders starting QB for their Week 1 contest against the Los Angeles Chargers on September 8.
#Raiders HC Antonio Pierce has named Gardner Minshew as Las Vegas’ starting QB.
— Miles Jordan (@Miles\\_Jordan\\_) August 18, 2024
Minshew threw for 3,305 yards and 15 TDs with the Indianapolis #Colts in 2023.
🚨 Davante Adams has a new QB 🚨 pic.twitter.com/r07sF6KZaX
Minshew is joining the Raiders for Pierce’s first full season as the team's head coach and is looking to turn the team around in 2024. The Raiders finished 8-9 in 2024, second in the AFC West behind the Super Bowl Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. However, Pierce led the Raiders to a 5-4 record after taking over the head coaching position with nine games left to play in the 2023-2024 season.
Pierce wants a quarterback who can protect the ball and, most importantly, get All-Pro receiver Davante Adams the ball. Minshew does a good job of protecting the ball, throwing just 24 interceptions in 49 career games. He threw for 3,305 yards for 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions with the Indianapolis Colts in 2023, helping lead them to a 9-8 regular season record. Minshew completed 62.2% of those passes in 2023, which is good news for Pierce and Adams.
Adams and the Raiders 2023-2024 season was made very public with Adams role in the Netflix Docu-series “Reciever”, where Netflix documented the Raiders season week by week through the perspective of Davante. Adams shared many frustrations, especially at the quarterback position, including a lack of targets as the team's No. 1 wide receiver. Hopefully, Minshew will be able to connect with Adams on a similar level to how Rodgers was able to connect with him in Green Bay. Davante recorded 1,144 receiving yards for eight touchdowns in 2023, his lowest in each category since 2019.
Will Minshew catalyze Las Vegas to become a contender in 2024?
