The Las Vegas Raiders took another huge injury hit when quarterback Aidan O’Connell suffered a fractured thumb against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
As a result, the team had to place him on injured reserve. He will be out for four to six weeks.
In a move to fill the void that O’Connell leaves, the Raiders have added another young quarterback.
According to NFL insider Tom Pelissero, the Raiders have signed former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder.
Ridder, who had been on the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad, made 13 starts for the Falcons last year. Atlanta selected Ridder in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft, following a 2021 campaign in which he led the University of Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff.
Ridder would start the final four games of the Falcons’ 2022-23 season, his rookie year, after Atlanta decided to bench Marcus Mariota.
He then acted as the Falcons’ starter for most of last season. Ridder would throw for 2,836 yards and 12 touchdowns in 15 games.
Atlanta traded Ridder to Arizona back in March. The Cardinals released him in late August before signing him to the practice squad the following day.
We’ll see what role Ridder will have on this Raiders team. Gardner Minshew II comes off his worst performance of the season, turning the rock over four times, throwing three picks. He came in to6 replace the injured O’Connell, who had replaced Minshew as the starter going into Week 6.
Minshew had been named the starter going into the 2024 season after a long offseason of battling O’Connell for the starting job.