After head coach Josh McDaniels was let go along with many of the coaches he brought on, the Raiders will have a whole new offence 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.
The Raiders can afford to swallow that dead money in order to free cap room and move on to a QB plan that fits the new regime.”
The $23.8+ million in dead cap isn’t ideal, especially for a player that the Raiders got very little out of. However, Garoppolo isn’t likely to be in the mix to be the starting quarterback in Las Vegas next season so there’s a strong chance he’s released.
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.
