Aidan O’Connell entered training camp an unknown to most NFL fans, but he’s changed all that by putting up some huge numbers this preseason.
The Las Vegas Raiders quarterback put up another big number this week: 92.5. That’s his grade from Pro Football Focus, the analytics operation that breaks down every play in every game.
As PFF noted in a tweet Wednesday, that makes O’Connell the highest-graded NFL rookie this preseason.
In more conventional football numbers, the former Purdue Boilermakers star has looked great, completing 26-of-36 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions in two games. And he’s been throwing the ball downfield like Raiders quarterbacks from the 1960s and ’70s, picking up big chunks of yardage.
That’s great production from a quarterback who fell to the fourth round of the draft. Of course, preseason games are often an unreliable barometer for a player’s performance when the games are for real.
But for PFF, the experts in grading football players, to rate him the best rookie of the preseason sends O’Connell’s stock to a new level. The NFL world had some thoughts after seeing the surprising PFF rating.
https://twitter.com/goonionx/status/1694440183117025343
[PFF]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.