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Since Jimmy Garoppolo has passed his physical and participating in training camp, the Las Vegas Raiders are going to be rolling with him at quarterback this season. However, it remains to be seen just how long he’ll be with the team.
He’s under contract for three years, but ESPN’s Dan Graziano isn’t buying he’s going to be around for the whole contract. He went through and made predictions for each NFL team that has questions at starting quarterback and predicted the Raiders to move on from Garoppolo after the 2023 season.
“The Raiders struggle badly in 2023 with a roster that appears to be much worse than the one McDaniels took over just last offseason,” Graziano wrote in the August 9 column. “Garoppolo misses a chunk of games because of injury. Davante Adams, who went to Vegas to play with his college buddy Carr, decides he wants to be traded. The Raiders, as the 49ers once did, decide they can’t count on Garoppolo to stay healthy and move on. In this scenario, they have a very high pick in the draft — maybe high enough to get [Caleb] Williams or [Drake] Maye.”
Whether or not the Raiders make a change at quarterback may depend on just how bad they are in 2023. A top-five pick puts them in a position to get a potential franchise quarterback but a pick outside of the top 10 makes it much more difficult to find one.
Josh McDaniels Not Concerned About Jimmy Garoppolo’s Training Camp Struggles
It hasn’t been a perfect start to training camp for Jimmy Garoppolo. Coming off offseason foot surgery, the veteran quarterback missed organized team activities and has been rusty to start camp. The Atheltic’s Vic Tafur went through some of the issues Garoppolo is having.
“It’s been a roller-coaster camp for the Raiders’ new starting quarterback, with the steepest dip coming at the end of Saturday’s practice,” Tafur wrote in an August 8 column. “Garoppolo was 1-for-7 in an 11-on-11 scrimmage with three dropped interceptions (he already had three that were caught on the day).”
While Garoppolo hasn’t been perfect, head coach Josh McDaniels doesn’t appear worried about it and says he’s not concerned.
“We’ve also seen some very good throws. It’s a very competitive camp,” McDaniels said during his August 6 media availability.
Aidan O’Connell Impressing
The Raiders need Jimmy Garoppolo to be healthy and productive this season if they hope to win a lot of games. If not, it could be a long season for the silver and black. The Raiders didn’t use an early draft pick this year to add a quarterback but they did take Aidan O’Connell in the fourth round.
It remains to be seen if he has potential to be an NFL-level starter but he’s off to a good start, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer.
“And while we’re here, rookie Aidan O’Connell has turned a lot of heads early in camp, and that hype is real,” Breer wrote in an August 6 report about what he saw at Raiders training camp during a visit. “It’s not hard to see he can really throw it, and he’s impressing everyone in the building with maturity, his ability to handle things at the line of scrimmage, and his accuracy.”
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