NOVEMBER 3: Garoppolo will see his time atop the depth chart come to an end, but he will remain in the gameday lineup on Sunday. Pierce confirmed on Friday that the 32-year-old will back up O’Connell, meaning Hoyer will serve as the emergency third quarterback. While the chance of Garoppolo suiting up could lead to a new injury and thus complicate his likely exit this offseason, this setup will give Vegas an insurance policy while O’Connell receives an extended look as a starter.
NOVEMBER 1: Aidan O’Connell will return to a starting role and will do so after being demoted to third-stringer. Following Josh McDaniels‘ ouster, the Raiders are preparing to install the rookie as their starting quarterback, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. This is not expected to be a one-off, with Rapoport adding O’Connell will take the reins “going forward.”
Jimmy Garoppolo returned in Week 8 from a back injury that sidelined him the previous week, but despite signing a three-year deal this offseason, the longtime starter will be benched. This will certainly mark a major transition for the Raiders, who had used Brian Hoyer ahead of O’Connell in Week 7. The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore initially reported the Raiders were leaning in this direction.
McDaniels turned to O’Connell in Week 4 following a Garoppolo concussion but kept him on the bench when Garoppolo went down two weeks later. Hoyer, 38, replaced Garoppolo against the Patriots and helped the team to a win. Hoyer then started against the Bears, though O’Connell also saw time late in that ugly defeat against the Tyson Bagent-quarterbacked team. Now, O’Connell will make the unexpected jump past Garoppolo for a team that is in line to have Bo Hardegree calling plays.
The Raiders have fired McDaniels, GM Dave Ziegler and OC Mick Lombardi. While Scott Turner is on staff as pass-game coordinator and brings four full seasons as a play-calling OC, Hardegree received the nod. Linebackers coach Antonio Pierce is now Las Vegas’ interim HC, with assistant GM Champ Kelly — who had interviewed for the GM gig — operating as interim GM. Garoppolo’s demotion will be the most notable on-field change in the wake of the housecleaning.
Garoppolo signed a three-year, $72.75MM deal with the Raiders, rejoining McDaniels after 5 1/2 seasons with the 49ers. Garoppolo, who had played for McDaniels for 3 1/2 seasons in New England, has started 63 career games. Although he has developed an earned reputation as the NFL’s most injury-prone active QB, Garoppolo had fared well in Kyle Shanahan‘s system. But the 10th-year QB, who turns 32 on Thursday, did not hit the ground running when back with McDaniels in Las Vegas. Garoppolo sits 30th in QBR and, despite missing two games, has thrown an NFL-high nine interceptions. The Raiders’ problems on offense go deeper than Garoppolo, hence the firings, but a team source informed Rapoport that O’Connell is the team’s best QB.
That certainly remains to be seen. The Purdue product flashed during the preseason and received the first crack at replacing Garoppolo, though Hoyer re-entering the picture does not bode too well for the fourth-round pick’s prospects. Khalil Mack sacked O’Connell six times during a seven-point loss in which the rookie fumbled thrice. O’Connell still completed 24 of 39 passes for 248 yards in that one-score loss, though a late red zone interception denied the Raiders a chance to tie that game.
O’Connell saw regular action in all four seasons with the Boilermakers and worked as their full-time starter in his final two. The Raiders met with each of the top five QB prospects this year but eyed defense (Tyree Wilson) in Round 1 and tabled their QB pick until No. 135 overall. This decision points Garoppolo to another free agency bid in 2024. Garoppolo’s 2024 base salary ($11.25MM) is guaranteed, but CBS Sports’ Joel Corry notes a Raiders September restructure of the deal — which added two void years for cap-saving purposes — will create $28MM in dead-money charges in the event of a non-post-June 1 cut designation. A post-June 1 cut would lead to a $15MM-plus dead-money hit. That restructure will create a challenge for the Raiders’ next GM come 2024.
Makes you wonder if there is some sort of injury guarantee in Jimmy G’s contract. They pulled the same trick on Carr.
Nothing to wonder about. As seen Monday night, Jimmy G sucks. Now that the Patriots clowns have been eradicated from the coaching staff and management, most of the under-performing Patriot alumni players on the Raiders roster are likely to be benched or released.
Last paragraph in the article should put your wondering to bed
Davis throwing isht at the wall and hoping something sticks. But I do agree that the rookie is the best option at this point.
The Raiders once had a QB depth chart consisting of Glennon, Peterman and Kizer so O’Connell would have to be considered an upgrade over that.
“Jim Harbaugh, please pick up the white courtesy phone”.
Surely, Harbaugh’s ready to jump back to the pros now that he’s sunk his college career.
The Bill B coaching tree is awful.
You have the Paul Brown tree of Chuck Noll. Weeb Ewbank. Bill Walsh who was the OC for the Bengals from 68-75 and developed the WC offense starting in 1971-72 with a weak armed Virgil Carter. Tuned to perfection in 73-75 with Ken Anderson.
Then the even better Bill Walsh coaching tree and all the great coaches that came from.
Then you can’t get anything from the Bill tree. They are all negatives to their teams. They try to come in and change everything. Over the top tough guys with my way or highway attitude. It just doesn’t work for any of them. Patricia was the worst.
Even the best coach won’t succeed if he takes a job with a dysfunctional organization. The coaching tree concept is about as meaningless as believing zodiac signs dictate your destiny.
Al Groh, R Crennel, E Mangini, J McDaniels (x2), J Swartz, BOB, M Pattrica, Flores, Judge, Kingsbury….All went to dysfunctional organizations?
They all made millions, Bill as well, off Tom. Bill is a joke.
It’s no different than in the military arty. You could be an outstanding Marine but if you get sent off to serve in a unit that is FUBAR, you’re probably going to end up badly injured or dead.
You actually believe 20+ NFL and NCAA teams all happened to be dysfunctional upon hiring a NE assistant? That’s over the course of 20 years? Now that’s an outlier if I’ve ever heard one.
Is NE dysfunctional now because Bill can’t win anymore? Is that Kraft’s fault? 6 SB’s would say otherwise.
One more question. Why didn’t Bill tell his staff not to take those jobs? He said that in both Cleveland and turning down the Jets was due to bad ownership, right? But he thought it was better to let his assistants & front office people fail?
Cleveland and NYJ…
You seem to think Bill was in charge of a kindergarten class. These were grown men arty. Adults capable of making their own decisions about their future. No matter what Belichick thought about their chances to be successful after leaving the Patriots he had to respect their right to go elsewhere…and he did.
You seem to think that even though no one from NE, including Bill, has an above 500 record without Tom is an anomaly. Just normal for 100% of them to lose on their own.
Answer me this, you’re a Bears fan. Which NE front office and assistant coach do you want hired to be your next tandem? Do you really want Bill to be your GM/HC? he’ll be available.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were the 1990s version of the Bengals and 2000s Lions version of dysfunctional before Noll arrived in 1969. It took longer to turn things around pre FA days. He still did and it wasn’t using zodiac signs.
The 49ers of 1977-78 were even worse. Joe Thomas the GM gutter that team so bad. The dysfunctional ownership on down was terrible.
Mike Holgrem went to GB in 1992 after working under Walsh and brought the same organizational structure that Walsh got from Brown along with smart trading when the Falcons didn’t realize the potential they had in Farva.
Those are just 3 examples. There’s not one that has been able to do it coming from Bill. Bill is an outlier and his coaches sure don’t learn much from him or hire bad coaches. The Broncos were not a dysfunctional org when McDaniel went there at all.
Parcells, BB’s mentor; turned around the Giants, Pats, Jets, & Cowboys around in 2 seasons or less (all his franchises made the playoffs). From 1979 (Giants) – 2003 (Dallas). 2 decades plus with all the league changes for 4 franchises that were all dysfunctional upon his arrival.
But Belichick is so brilliant that 0% of his staff learned anything in 20+ years of him being the HC?
Sure. And the Tooth Fairy exists.
That’s true, but McDaniel was in fact, not a good coach
Is it still a dysfunctional organization if the whole organization is new, ex-pats? They clearly did this to themselves and I am glad all of them got the axe for it.
“Patricia was the worst.”
Joe Judge is up there, too. What an absolute clown.
Don’t forget that the GOAT named Patricia and Judge ‘co’ OC’s last year when neither had OC experience.
Who cares just give Adams the ball he’s all they got.
It makes me wonder if the Raiders even tried ti interest anyone in Garoppolo. If you plan on benching someone on Wednesday, maybe you’d want to think about getting out from underneath their salary on Tuesday.
Call in Ryan day or Lincoln Riley. Maybe even Harbaugh or O’Brien
Which Harbaugh? The one currently in the crosshairs of the NCAA?
Yeah haha
Hopefully Jimmy comes back to NE
Nah maybe veteran backup role in Washington or Atlanta next year haha
Why not go with an Irish QB? Even if he’s only half as entertaining as Ryan Fitzpatrick, he’ll be a better option than Jimmy justabout.
Calm down, Mark Davis has a ‘plan’, the team will likely place themselves early in Round 1 of the draft to secure a ‘new’ QB prospect. That ‘positioning’ will garner interest from coaches in need of new jobs.
Can they screw that up?
It’s all up to Mark
Raiders should have never given Jimmy G anything more than a one year contract with an option. Where else was he going to go and start?