Aidan O'Connell is Gaining Confidence Among his Peers

Las Vegas Raiders rookie quarterback Aidan O'Connell is beginning to settle into his role as the starter.

With three starts under his belt, O'Connell has developed a new attitude through the first 10 weeks of his NFL career as he has transitioned into "big man on campus" status.

O'Connell was a fourth-round pick fresh out of college who was merely looking to find his place as a pro, but now is a starting NFL quarterback playing alongside some of the league's best players, like wide receiver Davante Adams and running back Josh Jacobs.

"Aside from everything else, I think I've talked about him as a quarterback and his comfortability leading the huddle and all those important things," Adams told reporters Wednesday. "But to me, the most important thing that I've seen -- and a couple of us were talking about it, me and Hunter [Renfrow] were talking about it earlier -- you're starting to see him start to be more comfortable just around us in general. 

"It's always funny coming in and you see the young guys come in and they come to play with me, whether it's a D-lineman or whatever, they always look a little different at me when they walk in through the hallways. And he'd been like that for a while."

That has now changed. Adams referenced an exchange he and O'Connell had right before the two had their Wednesday press conference. 

O'Connell had given the veteran a hard time for checking to see if he had anything on his face.

"So, like, stuff like that is where you start to take the next steps in your friendship to allow you to have a better connection on the field," Adams said. " ... So, that stuff is critical, and you don't really understand how important it is, but just getting to know people more and getting more comfortable around your teammates, it's a big piece."

O'Connell has been able to develop that comfortability thanks to Adams' approachability.

"I think Davante's an easy guy to talk to," O'Connell said. "He's down-to-Earth. And I, obviously, I watched him a lot growing up, so it's cool to ... form that friendship a little bit. 

"I got to make fun of him a little bit, and he's obviously a very good player, so I guess my job is to bring him back down to Earth a couple times. Even if that's not my job. But no, he's just a great guy.

"He was one of the early guys to welcome me in to make me feel welcome here. And so, he's been a huge part of my development."

O'Connell was selected with the 135th overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft.

The Silver and Black will head out on the road to South Beach to take on the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Nov. 19, at 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST.

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