Rookie Cam Miller sure impressed in the Silver & Black’s preseason opener, didn’t he?
The Las Vegas Raiders sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft out of North Dakota State dazzled with arm accuracy and strength on a 41-yard touchdown dime to wide receiver Shedrick Jackson against the Seattle Seahawks last Thursday.
The play gave us insight on Miller’s potential as his eyes and pump fake kept the safety in place while Jackson executed a textbook “sluggo” (slant and go route) for the fourth-quarter
score.
The late-round pick finished 6 of 7 passing for 75 yards and that touchdown toss and shortly after, reports surfaced that the Miller selection was fully endorsed by Raiders minority owner Tom Brady.
“If it is true, that’s very humbling and honoring to know the best quarterback to ever play the game endorsed me,” Miller said when asked about the endorsement during his media session.
Generating buzz isn’t a new thing for the North Dakota State product being a prolific FCS signal caller and his outing in the exhibition opener along with practices in training camp certainly opens a roster-spot window for Miller. Caveat here: If Las Vegas keeps three quarterbacks on the active roster.
Geno Smith is the unquestioned starter while third-year signal caller Aidan O’Connell currently sits as the backup and Miller at No. 3. O’Connell struggled in comparison to Miller — the former threw too awful interceptions in the first half against Seattle before settling down in the second.
The outing does beckon the question: Would it be wise for the Raiders to trade O’Connell?
If you look at purely gameday experience, the answer would be no. O’Connell has 20 games under his belt — 17 of those contests were as the Raiders starting quarterback (7-10 win-loss record). This provides Las Vegas a backup who has seen regular season action and knows the trials and tribulations of being an NFL quarterback — all of which Miller doesn’t possess, yet.
In addition, O’Connell isn’t a salary cap burden as he’s on his rookie contract still and is very cheap at a $1.157-plus million number this season and $1.272-plus million figure in 2026 (his final year of his initial contract).
But there are three other factors that make trading O’Connell a prudent move: Age, longevity, and style.
Heading into his third year in the pros, O’Connell is still young but the fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft (135th overall) out of Purdue turns 27 on September 1. He was drafted to be a young developmental prospect, but some will see his age next month as no longer “youthful”. In comparison, Miller turned 24 on June 18 and fits the bill of young developmental signal caller much better than O’Connell does now.
Then there’s Smith’s longevity. The 34-year-old turns 35 in October but over the course of a three-year span with the Seahawks from 2022 to 2024, Smith missed only two games (during the 2023 season). He started all 17 games for Seattle in 2022 and 2024. Smith absorbed 127 sacks during that span proving to be durable and tough and relegating his backup to clipboard duties for majority of the time.
And finally, style. Of the three quarterbacks on the Raiders roster, O’Connell vastly differs from his contemporaries as a pure pocket passer with little to no scrambling ability. While he can move and shuffle in the pocket, I’ve labeled O’Connell “Cement Shoes” for his lack of fleet feet. Smith and Miller gives the Raiders offense variety as equal parts passer and rusher.
Also keep in mind: O’Connell has no ties to this new Raiders regime of general manager John Spytek and head coach Pete Carroll.
In terms of compensation or potential landing spot for O’Connell, a late-round pick (fifth through seventh) is the likeliest haul for Las Vegas. Former Raiders GM Dave Ziegler, who drafted O’Connell back in 2023, is now the Tennessee Titans assistant general manager and the team has questionable depth behind 2025 No. 1 pick Cameron Ward. Behind the young signal caller are veterans Brandon Allen and Trevor Siemian. O’Connell can provide a familiar face and jump into the competition if the Titans were interested.
Yet, one question looms: Do the Raiders trust Miller enough to QB2? As the Raiders continue to embark on training camp and two more preseason games on slate — the first of which is a Saturday tilt with the San Francisco 49ers — that query will continue to be answered.
There’s no ignoring that the presence of both Smith and O’Connell in the quarterbacks room helps Miller’s development, though.
“I think the playbook’s a lot different than what it was in college. There’s just more verbiage. There’s more to know. The game is just more expanded than it was in college,” Miller explained. “So, yeah, I spent the last three, four months just really diving into that playbook, asking as many questions as I can in the quarterback meetings without being annoying to those guys, asking Geno and Aidan for any sort of tips and reminders that I can use when I’m out there.”
Extra Points: Revisiting the three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster notion above, I find it difficult for the Raiders to be able to get Miller on the practice squad come roster cutdown day from 90 to 53. Practice squads are filled after all 32 teams get to the mandated number before the regular season starts and if Las Vegas waived Miller with intent to re-sign him to the taxi squad, another team can put in claim to snag the quarterback.
