SAN DIEGO \u2014 The next Kenny Stabler won\u2019t soon be pulling on a Raiders helmet, so how about the next Kirk Cousins?<\/p>\n
Best-case scenario \u2014 admittedly, an unlikely one \u2014 that\u2019s Aidan O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n
A second-year Raiders draftee who started 10 games for them last year, O\u2019Connell would be one of the NFL\u2019s least recognizable starting QBs entering this season if he were to win the job.<\/p>\n
For O\u2019Connell to shock the football world and become a steady pro, he\u2019ll resemble Cousins, who for all the guff he takes due to his immobility, excels at throwing on time and on target.<\/p>\n
Cousins, too, entered the NFL as a 6-foot-3, pocket-bound, fourth-round pick who made the All-Big Ten Coaches second team as a senior after rising up Michigan State\u2019s career passing charts.<\/p>\n
You\u2019d pick them both near last among QB to win a sprint. Neither one has a strong NFL arm.<\/p>\n
The Raiders have done far worse than a Cousins-caliber QB for most of the two decades since they limped out of Mission Valley, following the final Super Bowl played in San Diego.<\/p>\n
Annoying to watch for football lovers who don\u2019t root against them, they show a meager .380 win rate in those 22 years since Jon Gruden\u2019s Buccanneers whomped them. Only the Browns and Lions have been worse.<\/p>\n
Take pity on elderly Raiders fans, who\u2019ve tasted so much bitter after so much sweet. Prior to the 2002 team\u2019s Roman Numeral faceplant at Jack Murphy Field, the Raiders owned the best win percentage of the Super Bowl Era.<\/p>\n
Count me among football lovers who don\u2019t want to see the Raiders waste another season with artistic receiver Davante Adams, 31.<\/p>\n
It would be Raiders-like if they stunted the growth of rookie tight end Brock Bowers, 21, whom Rams offensive wizard Sean McVay\u2019s boss tried to rise up and draft last April.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the summer dream: O\u2019Connell evolves into Cousins Light and, years later, the Full Kirk.Wouldn\u2019t that amount to Derek Carr Redux? Not quite. Cousins is a more consistent and effective passer than Carr. He\u2019s less skittish and more likely to throw TDs, as compared with his fellow four-time Pro Bowler.<\/p>\n
Besides, Carr went two rounds earlier in the draft and brought much better footspeed into the NFL than O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n
Admittedly, this best-case scenario is a bit cuckoo.<\/p>\n
First, O\u2019Connell must beat out Gardner Minshew, a good and well-paid backup who\u2019s made 37 starts.<\/p>\n
To outperform Minshew, under whom the Colts were 7-6 last year, O\u2019Connnell must adjust to a new coordinator in Luke Getsy and a new playmaker in Bowers.<\/p>\n
Someone, someday has to author an improbable career comparable to that of Cousins.<\/p>\n
Could it be the Purdue alum who in 2023, as Michigan State\u2019s Cousins did in 2012, went eighth among QBs in his draft class?<\/p>\n
Glimpses early last season weren\u2019t encouraging after an injury to Jimmy Garoppolo thrust O\u2019Connell into the job for which veteran Brian Hoyer was also a candidate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he stunk,\u201d an all-time NFL great former player told me, referring to O\u2019Connell\u2019s NFL starting debut in which the rookie had three fumbles, seven sacks and a critical interception against the Chargers.<\/p>\n
There were other clunkers, not unlike those many young QBs experience.<\/p>\n
The odor improved over the final six games as O\u2019Connell threw for nine touchdowns against one interception, leading the Raiders to a 3-3 record. Within that stretch was a bizarre game in which the Raiders mugged the Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium, winning despite O\u2019Connell completing no passes after the first quarter.<\/p>\n
Not sustainable, yes. Relevant? Probably not.<\/p>\n
The Raiders\u2019 defense inspires a lot more confidence than the offense.<\/p>\n
Among the mysteries are Getsy\u2019s chops as an offensive coordinator. His efforts with Bears QB Justin Fields the past two years didn\u2019t pan out. That\u2019s not necessarily a large check mark against Getsy. The Bears moved on from Fields after last season. All he brought them via a trade was a sixth-round draft pick.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s doubtful Getsy, among many other coordinators, is the offensive wizard that Kyle Shanahan was to Cousins early in their time together with Washington. Shanahan\u2019s quantifiable excellence in marrying a run game with play-action passing has benefited a wide array of QBs including Cousins, Garoppolo, Matt Ryan, C.J. Beathard and now Brock Purdy. Cousins also had McVay\u2019s magic touch, too.<\/p>\n
Can Getsy, 40, match his former Packers mentor Matt LeFleur, a branch in the Shanahan-McVay tree?<\/p>\n
Will Getsy develop a playbook deep and adaptive to make good use of both Bowers and fellow tight end Michael Mayer, a second-round pick in 2023?<\/p>\n
Will O\u2019Connell\u2019s immobility prove too much to overcome at a position where the standard has become increasingly more athletic?<\/p>\n
It wouldn\u2019t be the Raiders if there weren\u2019t point questions to be asked about the QB. There\u2019s a reason the team\u2019s logo shows a football pirate wearing an eye patch. He can\u2019t bear to watch with both eyes.<\/p>\n