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Aidan O’Connell has traits similar to Tom Brady, says NFL analyst

Andrew Olson

By Andrew Olson

Published:

Aidan O’Connell is having an impressive preseason with the Las Vegas Raiders. O’Connell threw for 163 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Raiders win over the Los Angeles Rams.

Colin Cowherd had Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network on his Monday show to discuss the hype surrounding O’Connell. Pelissero agreed with Cowherd that O’Connell seems to have a bright professional future ahead of him.

“With Aidan O’Connell, he did have a lot of fans within the league,” Pelissero said, noting he talked to scouts. “He’s got a good-enough arm. He’s good in terms of accuracy. He has a good feel for the passing game. He has good feet, too. The only thing that he really couldn’t do was move, the mobility was his biggest question. He’s a classic NFL pocket passer. Who does that sound like the profile on? Another guy who went later on in the draft – Tom Brady.”

Pelissero made it clear he’s not placing unfair expectations on O’Connell.

“I’m not saying Aidan O’Connell is Tom Brady, but of course, that’s [Raiders head coach] Josh McDaniels’ foundation going back to New England. He worked with Tom Brady for a long time,” Pelissero said.

“You see some similar traits in terms of how he plays within rhythm (and) knows where the football needs to go. He can move well enough … mobility in the pocket – he’s got a pretty good feel for it. Absolutely, this is going to be one of those fun stories to keep an eye on. He’s not going to beat out Jimmy Garrapollo in this camp, but somewhere down the line here we could be talking about Aidan O’Connell being something.”

O’Connell was selected No. 135 overall in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Purdue fans will be watching closely to see if O’Connell becomes the next underrated quarterback to find success playing for McDaniels.

Andrew Olson

A former Florida beat reporter, Andrew writes for the Saturday Tradition News Desk.