Brian Hoyer

For the second time this season Las Vegas Raiders will be less handsome this week as they travel to Chicago to face the Bears. Jimmy “Jimmy G” Garoppolo has been ruled out after suffering a back injury in last week’s victory against the New England Patriots. Garoppolo has not played a full season’s compliment of games since 2019 with the 49ers.

Davante Adams has seen 5 different quarterbacks in his stint with the Raiders including 4 different QBs in his last 7 games. Whether he will be improving the overall fantasy performance of Raiders backup Brian Hoyer, or rookie 4th Round pick Aidan O’Connell has not been announced yet.

O’Connell looked sharp in his lone start this season but committed standard rookie mistakes. Hoyer showed off his superiority over Garoppolo with the deep-ball and threw for 102 yards in his brief stint against New England. Either quarterback should benefit from the increased usage of rookie TE Michael Mayer and the ability of rookie WR Tre Tucker to stretch the Bears vulnerable pass defense, while Adams and Jakobi Meyers provide the bulk of the Raiders’ passing-game threat.

It’s Aidan O’Connell’s big day, today, in LA. The rookie quarterback from Purdue will make his first NFL start, in place of the bell-rung Jimmy G, as the Raiders travel to the Chargers. O’Connell was given the spot start over backup Brian Hoyer.

While the relative handsomeness of the three QB’s may be up for debate, O’Connell closely resembles Super Troopers character Rod Farva, the Raiders brass decided that the levels of readiness weren’t. O’Connell took first-team snaps in practice this week with Garoppolo in concussion protocol.

It’s somewhat dubious starting unseen rookie quarterbacks in fantasy, but O’Connell comported himself nicely in the pre-season completing 69.4% of his passes and leading all rookies in QBR. He does have two very capable receivers in Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers who will help him against a Chargers defense that is ranked 28th in defensive points allowed and last in passing yards allowed.

The Las Vegas Raiders will be significantly less handsome this week as they travel to LA to face the Chargers. Jimmy “Jimmy G” Garoppolo has been ruled out after suffering a concussion in last week’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Garoppolo has not played a full season’s compliment of games since 2019 with the 49ers.

Jimmy G suffered the concussion at some point in the Steelers game but was able to continue playing. He entered concussion protocol this week and was designated OUT on Saturday, even as his condition was reported to have improved throughout the week.

Davante Adams will be without his primary passer for the third time in his stint with the Raiders. Whether he will be improving the overall fantasy performance of Raiders backup Brian Hoyer, or rookie 4th Round pick Aidan O’Connell has not been announced yet.