After head coach Josh McDaniels was let go along with many of the coaches he brought on, the Raiders will have a completely new offense this offseason in Las Vegas. This suggests that Tom Telesco, the new general manager, will probably redesign the quarterback room.
Jimmy Garoppolo is not safe, but Aidan O’Connell is signed to a rookie contract and won’t be going anywhere. Garoppolo’s contract still guarantees him money, but the Raiders still have a lot of questions about their quarterback, so according to Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox, the team should cut him this offseason.
Knox stated in a blog published on January 29 that “the Raiders can dump Garoppolo as early as this offseason, even though his contract has $23.8 million in dead money remaining.” “Releasing Garoppolo with a post-June 1 designation would save $12.1 million in cap space in 2024 but would also result in dead-cap hits of $15.5 million and $12.8 million in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
“The Raiders can afford to swallow that dead money to clear cap space and move on to a quarterbacking scheme that works for the new organization.”
The dead cap of $23.8+ million isn’t ideal, particularly for a guy from whom the Raiders got very little use. There’s a good likelihood Garoppolo will be released because he won’t likely be considered for the starting quarterback position in Las Vegas come football season.
Any Chance Las Vegas Raiders Keep Jimmy Garoppolo?
It’ll be difficult to know what the Raiders need from a quarterback until they hire an offensive coordinator. Some coaches may want a quarterback who can move but it’s possible that there’s a coach who’d want to use Jimmy Garoppolo.
However, that seems unlikely. Head coach Antonio Pierce had multiple opportunities to bench Aidan O’Connell in favor of Garoppolo when the offense was stagnating and decided against it. It seems like he’d prefer to go young at quarterback and that will likely play a factor in who he hires. It’s always possible that the team chooses to keep Garoppolo around for another season due to his contract but the most likely outcome is that he gets released in the near future.
