Latest chapter of Aidan O'Connell's excellent adventure: NFL starter

Life as a rookie in the NFL can be rough. That’s why Aidan O’Connell cherished his weekly talks with David Blough.

The former Purdue quarterbacks are good friends, teammates for two seasons in West Lafayette, and brothers in arms trying to make it as quarterbacks in the NFL–O’Connell with the Raiders and Blough with the Lions.

“I probably talked to David at least once a week, normally more,” said O’Connell. “It definitely started after January of 2023. He helped me with the whole process, Pro Day, the Combine, all that stuff into the draft and everything.”

“He’s one of my best buddies, so I don’t know if I could have gotten through it without his advice. He played as a rookie, too (five starts in 2019). He went through some craziness, too. I got to learn from him.”

The advice doled out by Blough must have helped. O’Connell enjoyed a rookie season with the Raiders that best can be described as “pleasantly surprising.”

As a fourth-round selection of the Raiders in the 2023 NFL draft, O’Connell was expected to be a developmental player. Instead, he became the No. 1 signal-caller in Las Vegas, the latest chapter in a fairy-tale career that began with O’Connell being a walk-on at Purdue in 2017.

O’Connell threw 12 touchdown passes, six interceptions and averaged 201.6 yards per game in his 11 appearances while completing 62 percent of his passes and going 5-5 as a starter.

“Just craziness after craziness,” said O’Connell when asked to describe his maiden NFL voyage. “Just really cool opportunities. I think rookie year is hard enough, it’s long enough. I knew it was gonna be crazy, but then at the end with me playing was even crazier. It was just kind of the craziest part was saved for the end, which was a lot of fun.”

O’Connell started the final 10 games of 2023 after Las Vegas fired Josh McDaniels and promoted Antonio Pierce to interim head coach. Pierce, who recently was given the full-time head coaching gig, quickly tabbed O’Connell the starter. Perhaps that bodes well for O’Connell’s hopes to start for Las Vegas in 2024.

“I hope so,” he said. “It’s all out of my control. The OC (one needs to be hired), everything that happens, I’m just gonna try my best. I had only one coach in six years in college, so I think I was bound for some coach craziness coming to the NFL. I think I got lucky in college. But now I’m going through what most people go through. Just trying to roll with the punches.”

O’Connell got a baptism by fire, a full crash course in NFL quarterbacking that he says was hastened by veterans Jimmy Garoppolo and Brian Hoyer.

“I think probably my relationship with those two guys was what made the season how fun it was for me,” said O’Connell. “I think those guys are both awesome. They got along really well. I got along with them really well. They both helped me a lot, things that I would ask but even without asking, unprompted they would help me. They have seen a lot of football, so to get those guys in my corner, helping me out and cheering for me was pretty cool.”

O’Connell more than held his own, throwing for 2,218 yards and helping Vegas to an 8-9 record and second place finish in the AFC West.

“I think there was definitely some faking it till you make it going on,” said O’Connell. “I was trying to act like I’ve been there before even though I definitely hadn’t. I think there’s just no trade for those end-game repetitions, to see different things is awesome. Even after the first LA game (24-17 loss to Chargers) where I struggled, I was eager to get back out there and I thought, given another chance, I can play better. And so I think that as much it sucked to fail that first game, it was a good learning opportunity for me.”

Playing, learning and thriving in Jeff Brohm’s offense was good prep for O’Connell, who led Purdue to the 2022 Big Ten title game.

“I think definitely the Brohm system was hefty, so to be able to have that as my foundation was just cool to see different things that we ran similar or different,” said O’Connell. “It took a lot to learn, a couple years really to feel comfortable in the Brohm system, and so I think that definitely helped me get to the NFL.”

Along the way in 2023, O’Connell got to compete vs. former Boilermaker teammate and current Kansas City Chief George Karlaftis.

“It was fun,” said O’Connell. “He sacked me. I talked to him. He’s a great kid. Hopefully we get to hang out with him a little bit in the offseason.”

For now, O’Connell is still soaking in a season in which he ranked third among NFL rookie quarterbacks in passing yards behind Houston’s C.J. Stroud (4,108) and Carolina’s Bryce Young (2,877) and second in TD passes to Young’s 23.

“I hoped, wanted to (start),” he said. “But, obviously, I thought I was coming in as a development guy that wasn’t gonna play even in the first few years. But things happen and I just tried to make the most of the opportunity.”

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