Who Should I Start? Gardner Minshew or Sam Howell

Thursday, November 28, 1:02 PM

The Las Vegas Raiders have placed quarterback Gardner Minshew II (collarbone) on injured reserve. Given that Minshew has already been ruled out for the remainder of the 2024 season, this is merely a procedural move. He finishes his age-28 campaign having completed 203 of 306 passes for 2,013 yards, nine touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. He also took 29 sacks and lost four fumbles. It's been a sloppy year under center for the Raiders, who have given snaps to Minshew, Aidan O'Connell, and Desmond Ridder. Moving forward, Vegas intends to start O'Connell, whom they activated from injured reserve on Thursday. However, he's expected to be on a short leash with Ridder waiting in the wing.

Wednesday, January 1, 5:04 PM

Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said the team doesn't plan on playing backup quarterback Sam Howell in their Week 18 regular-season finale on Sunday against the division-rival Los Angeles Rams. The Seahawks were eliminated from postseason contention in Week 17, but it sounds as though they plan to play all of their starters this weekend to close out the season. Howell has played only 25 offensive snaps in his first year in Seattle and didn't look particularly confident in the rare instances he got into a game this year. Despite dealing with a nagging knee injury of late, the 34-year-old Geno Smith should start and play all of the Week 18 game, lining him up as a QB1 option this week with so many starters across the league being rested in the season finale. Smith enters Week 18 as the QB13 in overall fantasy points with 4,097 passing yards, 17 TDs and 15 interceptions in 16 games.