Raiders bench QB Jimmy Garoppolo, will start rookie Aidan O ...

With the poor play from the two seasoned veterans on the roster, turning to O'Connell makes sense at this stage.

When asked by Rapoport why the Raiders will ride with O'Connell, a source responded: "He's our best QB."

That's a stinging indictment of Garoppolo.

Vegas inked Jimmy G to a three-year $72.75 million contract this offseason as McDaniels' hand-picked replacement for Derek Carr. The marriage got off to an ominous start with the QB's foot injury pausing the introductory press conference as the sides figured out the health-related issues. The deal eventually got sorted out but foreshadowed problems to come.

Garoppolo, who struggled to stay healthy for stints in San Francisco, once again dealt with injury issues, missing two tilts and getting knocked out at halftime of another this season due to a back injury. When he was on the field, it wasn't pretty. The QB generated just one game of more than 208 yards passing and currently leads the NFL with nine interceptions despite significantly fewer snaps than other starting signal-callers.

Outside the comfort of a Kyle Shanahan offense, Garoppolo struggled to move the ball, airmailed a host of passes, and was easily rattled by pressure. Monday night's disastrous outing in Detroit, which included missing badly deep to Davante Adams multiple times, appeared to be the straw that broke the camel's back. 

Benching Garoppolo is the short-term move. The question for the new GM this offseason will be whether the club swallows the dead money on the QB's contract and completely moves on.

In the meantime, O'Connell will start his second game of his career on Sunday against the Giants in Vegas.