Can Jimmy Garoppolo unlock big-play potential of Raiders offense?

There’s no denying that Jimmy Garoppolo suits what the Las Vegas Raiders need in a beginning quarterback.

Garoppolo performed for Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels in New England when the QB entered the league as a second-round decide within the 2014 draft, so he is intimately conversant in the offense in Las Vegas.

On Monday, the Raiders agreed to signal Garoppolo to a three-year, $67.5 million deal that features $34 million in assured cash. So McDaniels and normal supervisor Dave Ziegler can nonetheless draft a quarterback of the long run subsequent month, probably at No. 7 total.

For now, Garoppolo supplies Las Vegas with a legit franchise quarterback in an AFC West that features large names like Patrick Mahomes with the Kansas City Chiefs, Justin Herbert with the Los Angeles Chargers and Russell Wilson with the Denver Broncos. 

During his three seasons in New England as a backup for Tom Brady, Garoppolo accomplished 67% of his passes for 690 yards, with 5 touchdowns and no interceptions. He posted a 106.2 passer score. Garoppolo additionally was profitable in San Francisco, main an offense directed by head coach Kyle Shanahan with a plethora of playmakers in Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk.

The Raiders boast loads of playmakers of their very own, led by operating again Josh Jacobs, tight finish Darren Waller and receivers Davante Adams and Hunter Renfrow. Yet Las Vegas averaged simply 23 factors per contest and completed 4-9 in one-score video games final season beneath the path of QB Derek Carr. 

Since getting into the league in 2014, Garoppolo ranks seventh within the league in passer score (99.6) and tops the NFL in yards per try (8.3) amongst 43 quarterbacks with no less than 1,500 passing makes an attempt throughout that time-frame. 

Yes, Garoppolo can play. But the difficulty for the Raiders is that if he can play a whole season with out getting injured.

The Eastern Illinois product completed 38-17 as a stater for San Francisco, main the 49ers to 2 NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl look. But he additionally completed on injured reserve in three of the previous 5 seasons, together with lacking the second half of the 2022 season with a damaged foot. 

So how a lot can the Raiders depend on a 31-year-old, injury-prone quarterback to reply the bell every week within the aggressive AFC West?

“You’ve got to have a great leader,” McDaniels mentioned on the NFL Combine when requested about quarterback traits he seems for. “He’s got to be able to have mental and physical toughness, no question about it. There’s going to be a ton of adversity in the National Football League season, and whether it’s physical things he’s going to have to battle through or the mental toughness to endure a couple of losses and keep going, those kinds of things are always going to be prerequisites for us. 

“And he is bought to have the ability to transfer the ball, rating factors and deal with it. When you discuss quarterback play, they should get us ultimately zone, we have to defend the ball from the opposite crew, and finally, we bought to win. There’s quite a lot of issues that go into enjoying this place very well.”

After Carr signed with the New Orleans Saints after being released by Las Vegas, McDaniels and Ziegler are about to find out if Garoppolo has enough of those things to lead the Raiders back to the playoffs in 2023.

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.

Top tales from FOX Sports:

---

---