The Las Vegas Raiders made a huge choice this offseason preserving Antonio Pierce as the team’s head teach full-time. He did a excellent job replacing Josh McDaniels midseason on an intervening time foundation and earned the job.
Under Pierce, the Raiders’ protection used to be excellent. That facet of the ball is the place his expertise is, which made the selection of who he hires as offensive coordinator an important one. To fill that role, Pierce employed Luke Getsy.
Getsy spent the last two seasons as the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears however was once let go until now this season. Under Getsy, the Bears have been able to produce at a high degree on the ground, but their passing assault left something to be desired.
Some of that can be placed on quarterback Justin Fields, who has some growing to do nevertheless as a passer. But, strides had been made in 2023 as the Bears made a concerted effort to improve the weapons around Fields.
In Las Vegas, Getsy will be accountable for helping further the improvement of Aidan O’Connell. O’Connell, a fourth-round choose out of Purdue in the 2023 NFL Draft, used to be named starter in one of Pierce’s first strikes as period in-between train in the course of the season.
While there have been some ups and downs during the season, Getsy spoke rather of what O’Connell used to be capable to accomplish at some point of his rookie campaign. He additionally supplied some perception on what to assume from the Raiders’ with him as offensive coordinator.
“Without even understanding him or talking to him about something yet, I should tell you proper now that guy has received to be anybody that prepares his butt off and is a splendid teammate,” Getsy said Friday, through Vic Tafur of The Athletic. “I mean, for the guys to rally round him the way that I saw from the outdoor searching in, and for him to go function in the way that he did in the quit of that season, that just speaks volumes. So, I’m excited to get to know him, excited to work with him for sure.”
O’Connell achieved 62.1 percentage of his passes in his rookie season for 2,218 yards with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions in eleven appearances with 10 starts. Given the occasions he faced, that was once a solid average performance.
His passer rating of 89.3 was once higher than Desmond Ridder, Kenny Pickett, Sam Howell and Bryce Young. There is absolutely some thing to work with when it comes to O’Connell if the Raiders opt to go forward with him in 2024.
One of the motives for optimism when it comes to his outlook is the presence of Davante Adams. When O’Connell was focused on him, correct things were happening. That is something Getsy will appear to proceed in 2024.
“You constantly have to play into the gamers that you have, and your pleasant players have to be the ones shining on Sunday,” Getsy said. “And so, it’s constantly about discovering what absolutely everyone does best, and finding cool and special ways to emphasize that every week.”
There is surely no guarantee that O’Connell will be the starter for the Raiders in 2024. They have been linked to countless options, whether it is in the draft, free organization or through trade. Getsy believes that one of the keys to a quarterback finding success is escapability, some thing O’Connell doesn’t have plenty of.
If Las Vegas does seem to be for any other starter, that may want to be a cause why. But, O’Connell proved that he can at least hold a team aggressive for the duration of his rookie season and should, at the very least, be in the mix for a backup role on the group this season.
