Aidan O'Connell Is Back With the Raiders, Two Weeks After Losing His Father

LAS VEGAS — The biggest game of the young NFL season kicks off at 1:25 p.m. PT at Allegiant Stadium: the 3-0 Raiders, the 3-0 Chiefs, sole possession of first place in the AFC West on the line, Jim Nantz and J.J. Watt on the call for CBS. And the most meaningful arrival of the weekend happened without a headline. Aidan O'Connell is back with the team.

Two weeks after leaving to mourn his father's death in Illinois, the fourth-year quarterback rejoined the Raiders on Sunday. The questionable tag that hung over him all week is gone. He's expected to be in uniform as the emergency third quarterback — the insurance policy nobody hopes to need, on a day when the whole building will be hoping he's nothing more than that.

Head coach Klint Kubiak made the team's feelings clear on Friday: he'd “absolutely” be comfortable with O'Connell playing despite not having practiced in more than two weeks. Here's the part worth sitting with — Kubiak had expected O'Connell back at practice this week, and it didn't happen. He hasn't taken a practice rep in over two weeks. And the Raiders still want him in uniform for the biggest game of their season. You can read a depth chart a hundred ways, but that decision only reads one way: this locker room thinks the world of him.

The player, on paper: a fourth season, 21 games, a 7-10 record as a starter, 377 completions on 608 attempts for 3,932 yards, 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. The numbers are modest — that's the honest way to put it. But the Raiders keep finding ways to keep him in the building, and this week they gave him every bit of space he needed and welcomed him back the moment he was ready. In a league that treats weeks as inventory, that kind of patience says plenty.

There's recent history here, too. The last time these teams met — January 4, the 2025 season finale — Daniel Carlson drilled a 60-yard field goal in the final seconds to lift the Raiders to a 14-12 win. It was a meaningless game in the standings and an unforgettable one in the building, the kind of afternoon that reminds you why this rivalry still moves the needle. Sunday is the opposite: everything on the line, both teams unbeaten, the division lead waiting for the winner.

The stakes couldn't be simpler: 3-0 against 3-0, and the winner takes sole possession of first place in the AFC West. Caesars has the Chiefs favored by 4½ with an over/under of 48 — respect for what the Raiders have done, but not quite belief. Not yet. That's what Sunday afternoon is for.

And it won't be a fully healthy Raiders team trying to earn it. Brock Bowers was added to the injury report Sunday morning with an illness, though all reporting says he'll still play — less than three weeks removed from the knee procedure that cost him the first two games of the season. Last week against the Saints he reminded everyone what the offense looks like at full strength: 10 catches, 116 yards, a touchdown. If the illness limits him at all, the load shifts. Up front, starting right guard Jackson Powers-Johnson is out with the groin injury that knocked him out of the Saints win in the fourth quarter; Caleb Rogers — who battled Powers-Johnson for the job throughout camp, played the final five snaps last week, and started six games as a rookie — gets the nod. “That helped the entire offensive line, and we've still got young guys that can play,” Kubiak said of the camp competition. “It's a 70-man roster, so we're counting on everybody.” Sunday is what “everybody” looks like.

One more thing worth knowing about the defense O'Connell is rejoining: it's hunting takeaways in bunches. Rookie safety Treydan Stukes is back from concussion protocol, and fellow rookie Hezekiah Masses has three interceptions over the last two weeks — the two of them openly chasing each other for the team lead. The Raiders' defense was the story of September. Sunday, against Mahomes, it has to be the story of October too.

Football is secondary today, and it's fine to say that out loud. A young quarterback, two weeks after losing his father, chose to be with his team for the biggest game of the season — not to play, most likely, but to be there. In uniform. In the building. There's no angle to work here and no grief to speculate about; it's just a man who decided that being with his people mattered more than staying away. In a league that treats players as assets, that choice says something about him — and about a locker room worth coming back to.

What happens at 1:25 p.m. matters — first place is first place, and the Chiefs don't hand those out. But whatever the scoreboard says late Sunday, the Raiders already made their most important addition of the week before kickoff. Read our full 3-0 vs. 3-0 preview and the rest of Sunday's Week 4 takeaways before kickoff.