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Las Vegas Raiders fans were not thrilled when the team gave Jimmy Garoppolo a three-year, $72.75 million contract last offseason and the acquisition only became more concerning when it was revealed he was going to need foot surgery after the signing.
Garoppolo struggled before getting benched and will likely be released this offseason. Former NFL agent Joel Corry took the Raiders to task for the signing and labeled it as the “Least Valuable Acquisition” of the 2023 season.
“Garoppolo was largely ineffective when he was benched in favor of 2023 [fourth-round] pick Aidan O’Connell once head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler were fired following a Week 8 loss to the Lions,” Corry wrote in a February 4 column for CBS Sports. “He had a league-leading nine interceptions, despite missing two games because of injury, when he lost his starting job.
“To add insult to injury, the Raiders converted $21.335 million of Garoppolo’s 2023 salary into signing bonus in early September where voiding 2026 and 2027 contract years were added to create $17.608 million of immediate salary cap room. There will be $28.318 million of dead money, a salary cap charge for a player no longer on a team’s roster, to release Garoppolo in the offseason. The $28.318 million could be split into $15.517 million in 2024 and $12.801 million in 2025 with use of a post-June 1 designation.”
O’Connell started four more games than Garoppolo and finished with fewer interceptions (seven) than the veteran (nine).
Will Las Vegas Raiders Cut Jimmy Garoppolo?
As Joel Corry alluded to, there’s almost no way the Raiders can justify keeping Jimmy Garoppolo on the roster at his current price tag. The team will need to eat a significant dead cap hit but if they cut him post-June 1, they’ll be able to open up some salary cap space.
This contract likely played a big role in why former general manager Dave Ziegler was fired this season. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers got much better play from Baker Mayfield, who was signed last offseason for a one-year, $4 million contract. Even if Mayfield would’ve been bad, the Buccaneers wouldn’t have a significant lingering cap hit from him.
It’s hard to find a worse contract from last offseason, especially considering Garoppolo was healthy for much of the season and still couldn’t get on the field.
Where Could Jimmy Garoppolo Play in 2024?
The Raiders have a new offensive coordinator in Luke Getsy who might find it preferable just to keep Jimmy Garoppolo on the roster. However, that’s unlikely as the team will either add a veteran quarterback or draft a promising rookie.
Though Garoppolo is clearly past his prime, there should be a team out there willing to bring him in. With so many quarterback injuries in 2023, every team is going to want a capable backup. New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh has ties to Garoppolo from when they were both with the San Francisco 49ers. Their season got blown up after quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles. Garoppolo would make a lot of sense as their backup quarterback.
If he’s only interested in starting, he could wait until after the draft to sign. Teams like the Atlanta Falcons or New England Patriots may not land a quarterback they like in the draft this year and could use Garoppolo as a stopgap starter.
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