The Las Vegas Raiders traded for Jimmy Garoppolo in hopes that he will be their starter this season…at least, that’s what we all thought.
Once the Raiders let go of Derek Carr, the team decided to go after an experienced quarterback. At one point, Aaron Rodgers’s name even came up, but in the end, they settled for Garoppolo.
Garoppolo had a winning record with the San Francisco 49ers and took them to two NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl, something Carr never did for the Raiders.
“Keep an open mind, keep an open ear.”
GM Dave Ziegler is always open to more insight during the Draft process. pic.twitter.com/ITtN1YRy58
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) April 21, 2023
So with all that experience in place, why is Raiders management saying there is no guarantee he will be the starter?
Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler said he’d like to see Garoppolo compete for the job.
“Yeah, I think we’re open to having a competition at the quarterback position and every other position on the roster,” he said recently during his April 21 media availability. “Just philosophically, the way that Josh and I believe that we’re going build this roster is any opportunity that we have a chance to improve the competition — and if that means at the quarterback position that there’s a competition there — we think that brings out the best of our players.”
Unless something happens, it’s pretty apparent that Garoppolo will be the starter this season; after all, he did sign a $73 million contract with the team. However, the team isn’t closing the door on drafting a quarterback this year.
“Anytime you can find a young player at that position that’s going to impact your team, you have to keep an open mind to that,” Ziegler said. “Of course, we’re excited to have Jimmy. And having Jimmy does supply us with a very high-quality starting player on the position, so we feel comfortable with that, but I think to close that door and say that that’s not something you would do because of X, Y, and Z that’s not the business that we’re in.”
You have to wonder, after hearing that, how Jimmy Garoppolo feels. His job may be on the line even before he starts, and didn’t he leave that same situation in San Francisco?
