Raiders interim head coach Antonio Pierce announced that Aidan O’Connell will be the team’s new starting quarterback after he took on the role in the wake of Josh McDaniels’ termination and he revealed who will back O’Connell up against the Giants on Friday.
Pierce said that former starter Jimmy Garoppolo will be active as the No. 2 quarterback behind O’Connell. Brian Hoyer had been the backup with O’Connell available as the third emergency quarterback for most of the season, but the team bumped O’Connell up to the No. 2 job for last Monday’s loss to the Lions.
There was some question about how the Raiders would handle the backup role because playing Garoppolo would expose him to potential injury and potentially complicate a parting of the ways at the end of the season, but Hoyer was unimpressive in a start earlier this season so it’s easy to understand why Pierce would prefer to go with Garoppolo in the event O’Connell has to leave a game.
If all goes well, the decision won’t come weigh on the result of Sunday’s game but there’s a chance Garoppolo will be back under center sooner than expected.