Antonio Pierce sounds like he hates QB situation as much as Raiders fans

The Las Vegas Raiders hoped that they had Derek Carr's successor when they inked Jimmy Garoppolo to a lucrative three-year deal. Unfortunately, all the Raiders needed to see was seven games from Garoppolo to see that he was not the answer under center.

Aidan O'Connell finished the year as their starter and played fairly well, but he's far from a guarantee when it comes to being a long-term solution. The same can be said about the quarterback they signed to compete with O'Connell this offseason, Gardner Minshew, who nearly led an undermanned Colts team to the postseason in 2023.

Both O'Connell and Minshew look like quality backups who'd be underwhelming if handed starting jobs. With those two as their options to start, expectations on the offensive side of the ball are low. Even Antonio Pierce, their head coach, seems to have low expectations too, based on what he said to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN (subscription required).

"'We're probably not going to be, to be honest, a juggernaut offense,' Raiders coach Antonio Pierce told me. 'Would I love to be? Yeah. To sit here and say we're going to score 30 points a game, that's not realistic.'"

Antonio Pierce gives realistic evaluation of Raiders offense expectations

Pierce was as honest as he could possibly be when discussing the state of his offense. The Raiders have talented skill position players like DaVante Adams, Brock Bowers, and Jakobi Myers, but the quarterback situation is lacking.

The Raiders ranked 23rd in the NFL last season scoring 19.5 points per game. That bumped up to 22.9 points per game in the nine games Pierce coached after replacing Josh McDaniels, but their 63-point outburst heavily influenced that total. There's reason to believe they can score more this season than last with Bowers in the mix and the quarterback situation probably a bit better, but it's still looking like a subpar unit overall.

"Whatever the best of Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell, we're getting that from them," Pierce said. "It's a new offense, and these guys have a fresh start."

It is a new offense, as Luke Getsy was hired to be the team's new offensive coordinator. With that being said, though, Pierce's remarks suggest that he knows Minshew and O'Connell are fairly limited as players. They're hoping to get the best from that duo, but who knows if the best will be good enough for them to win many games in 2024.

This quarterback situation is not one Raiders fans are thrilled by. O'Connell was a fourth-round pick for a reason, and Minshew doesn't have the highest ceiling either. They'd both rank toward the bottom among starting quarterbacks, and it's not as if the Raiders have an exciting young quarterback behind them. It's an unfortunate situation to be in, and is one that Pierce clearly wishes was a little bit better.