This was the best quarterback on the market for Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Raiders have made a great signing as they brought in Jimmy Garoppolo on a 3-year, $67.5M deal, solving their QB vacancy for a few seasons.
The Raiders finally have a quarterback that’s actually won a playoff game.
Okay, that may be unfair to Derek Carr as he was surrounded with utter insanity and incompetence for 85% of the time he was with the organization, but there’s a massive difference between Carr and Garoppolo.
First off, Garoppolo not only was mentored by some of the great modern coaches (HCs-Bill Belichick, Kyle Shanahan; OC-Josh McDaniels) and the greatest quarterback (Tom Brady) of all-time, but he also has one of the best winning percentages of any starting QB today at 70% (40-17 as a starter).
Secondly, even though Jimmy Garoppolo spent the first three years of his career as a backup to Tom Brady and lost three seasons (2017, 2018, 2021) in SF due to injury, he still has 40 wins as a starter, 4 playoff wins, 3 NFC Conference Championship appearances (he was injured in 2022 NFC Championship game), and a Super Bowl appearance (Super Bowl 54). Do you know how many playoff wins Derek Carr had as the Raiders starter? o.
Yes, not a single postseason win, let alone a Conference Championship game or a Super Bowl appearance. In fact, he didn’t even win the AFC West Division title in his 9 seasons with the Raiders, though I will say that’s not his fault.
Obviously, Carr’s 35,222 passing yards and 217 passing TDs far surpasses Garoppolo’s 14,289 passing yards and 87 passing TDs, but most of those yards have come in meaningless games. That’s just a fact when you see Carr’s career record is 63-79 as a starter. Simply put, despite Garoppolo being the less talented QB than Carr, he’s been a far more successful and valuable to winning teams than the former Raiders QB.
So, the Raiders bringing in someone who has playoff and Super Bowl experience will undoubtably help the rest of the roster understand what it takes to win the biggest games. Along with Devante Adams, he should be able to help guys like Josh Jac0bs, Hunter Renfrow, and Darren Waller learn the nuances and fine margins between being a 10-7 and Wild Card exit team versus a 12-5 Conference Champions contending roster.
Again, Garoppolo isn’t the best QB on the market or in the draft, but he was the one with most winning experience and team success. And, for a team that absolutely imploded last season with a 6-11 record, he’s exactly the QB this team needed.
Oh, and this contract is super team friendly.
Perhaps linking up with Josh McDaniels again had something to do with the contract being so low (comparatively speaking to the QB market), but the Raiders have gotten a steal by only paying (on average) $22.5M for a QB that has made it to the Super Bowl.
Remember, Matt Ryan (avg. $30M), Ryan Tannehill ($29.5M), Geno Smith ($25M), Daniel Jones ($40M), and Jared Goff ($33.5M) all have higher average salaries than Jimmy Garoppolo, even though neither one of these players has a higher winning percentage than Garoppolo or a Super Bowl appearance with the team they are currently signed to.
Alright, that stat may be slightly deceptive (especially in Matt Ryan’s case), but the truth is Jimmy Garoppolo has just been signed to a backup-tier contract despite being one of the Top-15/20 QBs in this league.
And that’s why this is such a great deal for the Raiders…as long as Garoppolo stays relatively healthy.
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