Raiders coach Antonio Pierce names Gardner Minshew starting quarterback

The Las Vegas Raiders have been entrenched in a long quarterback battle all training camp. Sunday the battle ended when Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce named Gardner Minshew the starter. What Minshew brings to the Raiders is experience as starting quarterback. Minshew appeared in all 17 games for the Colts, taking over as starter in place of an injured Anthony Richardson in Week 6. He passed for 2,752 yards, 13 touchdowns, and nine interceptions through 12 starts as Indianapolis finished the season 7-6.

Minshew has the kind of story you root for. He was a 2019 sixth-round pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars, Minshew began his career as a starter in Jacksonville before spending three campaigns mostly backing up Trevor Lawrence with the Jags and Jalen Hurts with the Philadelphia Eagles. Last season he put together a Pro Bowl season filling in for Richardson in Indianapolis. That was enough to convince the Raiders to give Minshew another shot at starting. 

"Gardner's really savvy, does a good job of controlling [tempo], poise, feels things around him, good feeling in the pocket," Pierce told reporters, per ESPN's Paul Gutierrez. Pierce made it clear throughout the offseason that the starting quarterback of the Raiders would be the one that took care of the ball the best. Pierce wants efficiency in an offense. Pierce wants balanced vertical passing paired with a punishing running game.

In last night's contest, against the Dallas Cowboys, Minshew started and played five drives for the majority of the first half. Minshew's performance was not great compared to the previous week, and he made some bad throws, including one that should have been intercepted. His pocket management seemed off and when Minshew tried to extend plays, he had key errors. Minshew went 10 of 21 for 95 yards and a quarterback rating of 60.6.

However, Minshew will be Raiders starter week 1 against the Chargers on Sept. 8.