10:34am: A last-ditch trade effort will take place, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore. That will be unlikely to succeed, but the team will try to collect a low-end asset for a player who will otherwise hit the market soon.
9:35am: After yo-yoing in and out of the Raiders’ starting lineup last season, Gardner Minshew suffered an injury that took him out of that mix. As expected, the Raiders will end that experiment at one season.
The Raiders have informed Minshew he will be cut, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reports. No move will take place until March 12, the start of the 2025 league year. This suggests a post-June 1 designation, which would save the Raiders $12.5MM for 2025. If so, it would mark the second straight year a Raiders quarterback becomes a post-June 1 cut; the team designated Jimmy Garoppolo as such in 2024.
Minshew won the Raiders’ starting job out of camp but was benched on multiple occasions during Antonio Pierce‘s season in charge. Pierce expressed frustration to then-GM Tom Telesco about the Raiders’ 2024 QB plan, which centered around Minshew’s two-year, $25MM contract. Both were soon out in Las Vegas, and the Tom Brady-John Spytek-Pete Carroll trio are readying to make a bigger upgrade effort this year. They were in discussions to authorize a near-$100MM guarantee package for Matthew Stafford, but the experienced QB is staying with the Rams.
Although the Raiders most likely were the team that sent the Commanders their lone trade offer for No. 2 overall (as Pierce aimed for a Jayden Daniels reunion), they made their Brock Bowers pick one spot after the Broncos chose Bo Nix. That left the top six QBs — in what might be an impressive draft class at the position — in last year’s crop spoken for. Signed as insurance against the team not coming out of the draft with a high-end prospect, Minshew then became the Raiders’ top option.
Having led the Colts to the playoff precipice as an Anthony Richardson replacement in 2023, Minshew became a sought-after bridge option last year. He did not build on that Indianapolis performance in 2024, though, posting a 9-10 TD-INT ratio and averaging just 6.6 yards per attempt. In Minshew’s defense, the Raiders let Josh Jacobs walk in free agency and traded Davante Adams in-season. Minshew and Aidan O’Connell did help Bowers to a historic season and Jakobi Meyers to a quiet 1,000-yard campaign. While O’Connell remains on his rookie contract, Minshew can begin looking elsewhere.
Minshew, who was due an $11.84MM base salary for 2025, has made 46 career starts — with the Raiders, Colts, Eagles and Jaguars — and has found success as a former sixth-round pick. The six-year veteran will head back to the bridge market and should at least command interest as a backup option for the ’25 season.
Justin Fields step on down.
If I’m jets or raiders I’m giving Justin fields a chance for real
The team will be better overall, so whomever signs will by default have a better shot. I don’t think that Fields and Minshew have much of a difference production wise, personally, but I don’t think that the Steelers will let him loose. If they do, sure, Vegas could be enticing for him as an opportunity, and he wouldn’t be expensive. I just don’t think that he leaves Pennsylvania.
Vegas is probably going to have to seek a more veteran option to cover for their eventual QB successor. Fields is probably Pittsburgh’s bridge starter next year, but if he isn’t, I could see it. There is a strong possibility that Vegas, like one or two other QB needy teams, won’t draft a successor until next year, and Fields is young enough to be an option for both seasons if it comes down to it. That’s partially why I think that the Steelers want to keep him, of course, so that could hurt his availability in that sense. Unless Pittsburgh decides to pursue another short term upgrade for next year (which probably is limited to Darnold, Rodgers, or a maybe healthy Cousins), I see Fields staying put for 2025.
Fields can win games though and after a year mostly being benched he’s 110% healthy he’s still young cheap and coachable. I think people are downplaying the upside to a Fields let team in 2025
Thank god. Imagine what Bowers and Meyers could’ve done with a real QB.
Imagine what Minshew could have done with a better line, running game and coaching?
9-8 with the Colts
So they all made him throw 10 INT’s in 9 games?
Tends to happen when your OL can’t stop a grade schooler from getting through. It’s called throwing for your life…
Not to mention having maybe two viable pass catching options on the any given snap to go with it, against defenses that don’t fear the run…
Minshew isn’t top tier by any means, but he and the other Raiders probably could have played at a higher level in a better offense. We can solidly say that, at least.
He’s a very good backup option and there’s zero wrong with that. The guy just isn’t a starter.