The Las Vegas Raiders will have a different veteran under center in 2023 after moving on from Derek Carr after years of falling short in the regular season and the playoffs.
The team rushed to sign Jimmy Garoppolo and reunite him with Josh McDaniels, who had already coached him with the New England Patriots.
However, the Raiders might have to wait a little longer before having their new quarterback under center, as Garoppolo hasn’t practiced at the team OTAs this week with an undisclosed injury.
Raiders coach Josh McDaniels tells media QB Jimmy Garoppolo hasn’t practiced at OTAs this week. He declines to get into any injury specifics but “our preference is to not push or rush anyone at this time.” Focus is on everyone being healthy for training camp.
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) May 25, 2023
McDaniels didn’t want to go into details about Garoppolo’s injury or share any further info, but he cited that the team doesn’t want to rush him at this point, according to a report by NFL insider Jonathan Jones.
Notably, Garoppolo has struggled with multiple injuries throughout his career, and the San Francisco 49ers even failed to trade him last season because of that.
He knows the ins and outs of McDaniels’ offense, and he’s found some success as a starter in the regular season, so there’s a slim chance the Raiders fare better with him than with Derek Carr, assuming he’s actually healthy.
But health concerns will always be a part of the equation when we talk about Garoppolo, and the Raiders cannot afford to fall behind in the stacked AFC West.
All things considered, it’s hard to consider them playoff contenders or even put them in the same tier as their divisional rivals, even if Garoppolo is back to full strength and ready to go for the start of the season.
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