Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell announced the death of his father, Jim O’Connell, in an emotional Instagram post on Thursday, September 24, 2026. The tribute explained his week-long absence from the team, which the Raiders had previously described only as a “personal matter.”
“It is with immense sadness that I share the passing of my Dad, Jim,” O’Connell wrote. “My Dad was a gift to me and to so many others. All who were fortunate enough to know him can testify to the great man he was. He impacted countless lives, and those who knew him were better for it.”
O’Connell, 28, had not practiced with the team in over a week and did not travel with the Raiders for their Week 2 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. It is not yet clear when he will return to the team.
For the O’Connell family, Jim’s death represents the third major loss or crisis in six years, following the near-fatal car accident that seriously injured O’Connell’s mother, Kathy, in 2020, and the sudden death of his oldest brother, Sean, in November 2022 at the age of 27. Through each of those moments, Aidan O’Connell kept playing football. This time, he stepped away.
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What Aidan O’Connell Wrote About His Father
O’Connell’s full Instagram tribute was lengthy, deeply personal, and rooted in the Christian faith that has been a consistent thread throughout his public life.
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After describing his father as someone who “impacted countless lives,” O’Connell continued: “My family and I are heartbroken by this loss, and we are relying on the Lord for comfort and peace.”
He expressed gratitude for the support his family had received: “We are incredibly thankful for the prayers, kindness, and support that have surrounded our family during this difficult time. We ask for continued prayers as we grieve, remember, and honor my Dad’s life and the impact he had.”
The final section of the tribute drew directly from Scripture and from the Reformed Christian tradition that has shaped the O’Connell family’s public expressions of grief. “Saying goodbye to him has been incredibly difficult for all of us,” O’Connell wrote. “But we are holding tightly to the promises of Scripture and trusting that Dad is at peace, finally and forever.”
He closed with a passage from the Heidelberg Catechism, a 16th-century Reformed Christian statement of faith: “My only comfort in life and death is that I am not my own, but belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.”
His final words were direct: “Rest in peace, Dad. We love you and will miss you more than words can say.”
Who Jim O’Connell Was to His Family
Jim O’Connell raised six children in Long Grove, Illinois, a small village in Lake County northwest of Chicago. He and his wife, Kathy, built a household that Aidan has described repeatedly as tight-knit, faith-driven, and grounded in mutual support.
The O’Connell siblings, in order, are Sean, Patrick, Aidan, Liam, Seamus, and Grace. Patrick attended Ball State University and Wheaton College, where he played as a senior defensive lineman. Grace is the family’s only daughter.
While Jim maintained a private life and did not seek the public attention that came with his son’s football career, the moments when his character became visible tell a consistent story.
In 2020, Kathy O’Connell was involved in a serious car accident that required multiple surgeries and months of physical rehabilitation. Jim was by her side throughout the recovery process, through every surgery and every step of rehab. When Aidan has spoken about the accident in interviews, his descriptions of his father’s role have consistently centered on steadiness, patience, and presence.
That same quiet reliability defined how Jim appeared in the margins of Aidan’s football career: not as a stage parent, but as a constant figure in the background of a family that kept producing athletes, students, and people of faith.
A Family That Has Already Endured Significant Loss
Jim’s death is not the first time the O’Connell family has navigated grief in the public eye. The family’s losses over the past six years form a pattern of adversity that has become inseparable from Aidan’s public story.
2020: Kathy O’Connell’s car accident. The severity of the crash required multiple surgeries. Aidan was playing college football at Purdue at the time and has spoken about the emotional toll of being away from home while his mother recovered.
November 2022: Sean O’Connell’s death. Aidan’s oldest brother, Sean, died suddenly at the age of 27. An autopsy pointed to natural causes related to cardiac issues. The death came during the middle of Aidan’s sixth and final season at Purdue, just days before the Boilermakers played Indiana in a game that would determine whether they won the Big Ten West division title.
Aidan played in that game, throwing for 290 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-16 victory. He was seen crying into a towel on the sidelines during the contest. He did not attend the post-game press conference. Head coach Jeff Brohm became visibly emotional speaking to reporters afterward.
The following day, Aidan publicly announced Sean’s death. Later that week, he returned to practice and started the Big Ten Championship Game against No. 2 Michigan in Indianapolis, Purdue’s first appearance in the conference title game.
O’Connell subsequently established a foundation in Sean’s name focused on heart-health awareness.
September 2026: Jim O’Connell’s death. Unlike in 2022, when O’Connell played through his brother’s death before publicly acknowledging it, the quarterback chose to step away from the team immediately. He has not practiced since at least the week before the Chargers game and did not travel with the Raiders for that contest.
The decision to step away, rather than play through the grief as he did four years ago, speaks to the cumulative weight of what this family has endured.
O’Connell Family Losses and Crises:
| Year | Event | Aidan’s Response |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Mother Kathy seriously injured in car accident | Continued playing at Purdue while supporting from distance |
| November 2022 | Brother Sean dies at 27 from cardiac issues | Played in Big Ten West-clinching game; started Big Ten Championship |
| September 2026 | Father Jim passes away | Stepped away from Raiders; missed at least one game and a full week of practice |
How the Raiders and Teammates Responded
The response from within the Raiders organisation and across the NFL was immediate after O’Connell shared his tribute.
Defensive end Maxx Crosby commented on the Instagram post: “I love you brother.”
Tight end Brock Bowers wrote: “Love you brother.”
Former Raiders teammate Jarrett Stidham, who shared a quarterback room with O’Connell in Las Vegas, also posted his condolences.
The Raiders had handled the situation with discretion in the days before the public announcement. When O’Connell missed practice and did not travel with the team, the organisation listed only “personal reasons” as the explanation. No one within the building disclosed the nature of the absence, allowing O’Connell to share the news on his own terms and in his own time.
Head coach Antonio Pierce has not publicly commented on a timeline for O’Connell’s return. The organisation is expected to give him as much time as he needs.
The Walk-On Who Built an NFL Career
For readers encountering Aidan O’Connell’s name for the first time through this story, his path to the NFL is itself a narrative of persistence and improbability.
O’Connell grew up in Long Grove, Illinois, and played football and basketball at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire. He was not a heavily recruited athlete. His only scholarship offer came from Davenport University, a Division II school in Michigan.
In his senior season at Stevenson, he threw for a school-record 2,741 yards and 26 touchdowns. On February 3, 2017, he committed to play at Wheaton College in Illinois. Less than a month later, he changed course and accepted a preferred walk-on spot at Purdue University.
The early years at Purdue required patience. O’Connell did not start a game until his third season, when he beat Northwestern on November 9, 2019. He suffered a season-ending injury in the third game of the 2020 season. He earned the starting job again in 2021 and played well enough to receive second-team All-Big Ten honours.
Rather than entering the NFL Draft after the 2021 season, O’Connell returned for a sixth year in 2022, the year Sean died. He led the Big Ten in passing yards per game with 284 and led Purdue to the Big Ten West title, the programme’s first division championship in the conference.
He was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft with the 135th overall pick.
Aidan O’Connell Career Profile:
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | September 1, 1998, Long Grove, Illinois |
| High School | Stevenson (Lincolnshire, Illinois) |
| College | Purdue University (2017-2022, walk-on) |
| NFL Draft | 2023, 4th round, 135th overall (Las Vegas Raiders) |
| College Honours | 2x Second-team All-Big Ten (2021, 2022) |
| NFL Career Stats (through 2025) | 377/608, 3,932 yards, 20 TD, 11 INT, 84.1 passer rating |
| Married | Jael Johnson (married July 30, 2022); met at Purdue’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes in 2018 |
Where Things Stand With the Raiders
O’Connell enters this personal leave during a Raiders season that has started positively for the organisation but in a complicated position at quarterback for him personally.
The Raiders are 2-0 heading into Week 3. Kirk Cousins is the team’s starting quarterback. Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, serves as the primary backup. O’Connell is currently listed as the third-string quarterback on the depth chart.
Despite his reduced role in the quarterback hierarchy, O’Connell remains a respected figure in the locker room. His leadership, maturity, and the way he has handled adversity throughout his career have made him the kind of teammate whose absence is felt regardless of whether he is taking snaps.
The Raiders won their Week 2 game against the Chargers without him. They are preparing for a Week 3 home matchup against the New Orleans Saints. It is not clear whether O’Connell will be available for that game or when he will rejoin the team.
When asked about O’Connell’s status before the public announcement, the organisation deferred to the “personal matter” designation and did not pressure a timeline. That approach is expected to continue.
Faith as a Constant in O’Connell’s Public Life
One element that runs through every public statement O’Connell has made during moments of grief is his Christian faith. It is not performative or seasonal. It is structural.
When Sean died in 2022, Aidan quoted the Book of Job: “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
When announcing Jim’s passing in 2026, he quoted the Heidelberg Catechism, a document from the Reformed Christian tradition that dates to 1563. It is a deeply specific theological reference, one that points to a family whose faith is not generic but rooted in a particular tradition.
He met his wife, Jael Johnson, at Purdue’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes in 2018. They married on July 30, 2022, in Spencer, Indiana.
This context matters because it explains how the O’Connell family processes loss. The tributes are not boilerplate celebrity grief statements drafted by a publicist. They are written in the language of a family whose faith functions as the framework through which they understand suffering, purpose, and hope.
Whether a reader shares that faith or not, the consistency of it across multiple moments of profound difficulty is difficult to dismiss as anything other than genuine.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to Aidan O’Connell’s father?
Jim O’Connell, the father of Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell, passed away in September 2026. Aidan announced the news in an Instagram post on Thursday, September 24. The cause of death has not been publicly disclosed.
Why was Aidan O’Connell absent from the Raiders’ game against the Chargers?
O’Connell missed the Week 2 game against the Los Angeles Chargers due to what the Raiders described as a “personal matter.” He later revealed in his Instagram tribute that his father had passed away.
Did Aidan O’Connell also lose his brother?
Yes. O’Connell’s oldest brother, Sean, died suddenly in November 2022 at age 27 from what an autopsy attributed to natural causes related to cardiac issues. Aidan was playing his sixth and final season at Purdue at the time and continued playing through that grief, leading the Boilermakers to the Big Ten Championship Game.
Who is starting at quarterback for the Raiders?
Kirk Cousins is the Raiders’ starting quarterback for the 2026 season. Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 draft, is the primary backup. O’Connell is listed as the third-string quarterback.
When will Aidan O’Connell return to the Raiders?
No timeline has been announced. The Raiders have said only that O’Connell is away for personal reasons. The organisation is expected to give him the time he needs before returning.
What did Aidan O’Connell say about his father?
O’Connell described his father as “a gift to me and to so many others” and said Jim “impacted countless lives.” He referenced the Heidelberg Catechism and expressed trust that his father “is at peace, finally and forever.” He closed with: “Rest in peace, Dad. We love you and will miss you more than words can say.”
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Last Updated on September 25, 2026 by 247 News Around The World
