What Gardner Minshew starting for Las Vegas means in fantasy

Las Vegas' uninspiring offseason quarterback competition ended on Aug. 18 as head coach Antonio Pierce announced that Gardner Minshew will start Week 1 over Aidan O'Connell. The change does not affect the overall fantasy landscape very much but will provide all of the Raiders' fantasy assets with a different seasonal outlook.

Assuming he can make it to the end of the year without being benched, 2023 will mark the fourth season Minshew will serve as a starting quarterback. He most recently took over as the full-time starter in Indianapolis for the 2023 season after Anthony Richardson went down early in the year. He responded to his first time starting in three years with 3,305 passing yards and 15 touchdowns to nine interceptions for a QB21 finish in fantasy.

While Minshew is still not an exciting name managers will be excited to draft, his track record proves he is a historically reliable QB2 in two-quarterback leagues with weekly QB1 upside in the right matchups. In his first two seasons in Jacksonville, Minshew posted a QB20 and QB26 finish, respectively, even with his second year consisting of just nine games.

How Gardner Minshew will affect the Las Vegas skill players

With the confirmation of Minshew in the starting lineup, 2023 fill-in starter O'Connell will be reverted to the bench. Through 11 games as the starter after supplanting Jimmy Garoppolo, O'Connell put up a respectable 2,218 passing yards but added just 12 touchdowns with seven interceptions. His turnover-prone playstyle was reportedly a big factor in Pierce's decision to choose Minshew.

While O'Connell was subpar, his constant targeting of Davante Adams led to a WR14 finish for the veteran. It was a significant decrease from his 2022 campaign but between O'Connell and Garoppolo, Adams was stuck in fantasy purgatory once Derek Carr left for New Orleans.

Minshew will not bring the same chemistry Adams had with Carr, his former collegiate teammate, but has supported multiple receivers in fantasy before. Minshew guided Michael Pittman Jr. to a WR25 season in 2023, the highest finish of his career. In 2019 with Jacksonville, Minshew DJ Chark Jr. to a WR16 year, by far the best of his career.

Minshew's presence should also assist in uplifting the value of Zamir White and Brock Bowers, with his running backs averaging double-digit fantasy points in each season he was a starter. Twice did Minshew play with a top-15 fantasy running back in Jacksonville next to Leonard Fournette and James Robinson.

As for Bowers, his effectiveness in the NFL has yet to be seen but given his speed and athleticism, his game should fit into what Minshew has grown accustomed to. In just five games with James O'Shaughnessy in 2019, Minshew connected with the former prospect twice in the end zone. It was a small sample size and nothing to report home about, but in a shortened field, Minshew tends to significantly favor his big-bodied targets.

In 2023, Indianapolis' revolving door of tight ends combined for six touchdowns on the year, 40 percent of Minshew's total passing scores. Bowers is unquestionably the most talented tight end he will ever play with.

The Minshew Mania hype has died down from what it once was in 2019 but there is no doubt that the 28-year-old's aggressiveness is the best of a bad situation for all of Las Vegas' fantasy-relevant players. He is not the player some hoped he would have become but with O'Connell averaging barely one touchdown per game in 2023, it is not as close of a debate in fantasy as it is on the actual gridiron.