The Las Vegas Raiders hired Josh McDaniels before the 2022 season in large part because of his offensive mind and reputation as a quarterback guru. Both of those things would ultimately never come to fruition in Las Vegas and proved quite costly for the Raiders’ organization.
After the decision was made to move on from quarterback Derek Carr toward the end of the 2022 season, the decision on who would be the next Raiders’ quarterback would be left up to McDaniels. Owner Mark Davis trusted the six-time Super Bowl champion to find the right player for the franchise, while general manager Dave Ziegler was ready to sign off on whoever McDaniels chose.
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The original hope was to sign Tom Brady. The greatest quarterback in NFL history had a good relationship with McDaniels, played a fundamental role in the creation of the “Patriot Way” and knew this offense better than any player in the league. When Brady retired, Las Vegas had to look elsewhere.
The 2023 NFL Draft seemed like the perfect opportunity for the Raiders to find their new face of the franchise. In a class that featured Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson and Will Levis, Las Vegas had opportunities.
However, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the feeling around the building in Las Vegas was that McDaniels didn’t. want to have a rookie quarterback to grow with going into the 2023 season. If the Raiders couldn’t have young, McDaniels seemingly believed the team was better off looking elsewhere.
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That’s part of the reason why, despite reports of the Raiders’ interest in acquiring the No. 1 pick from the Chicago Bears, a deal never came to fruition. The organization didn’t have a great feel on the rookie quarterback class when Chicago started aggressively shopping the pick. By the time evaluations were complete and McDaniels liked Young enough, the Carolina Panthers moved up.
It meant Las Vegas would have to wait at least another year until it could potentially land its new franchise quarterback. However, McDaniels’ backup plan after Brady was still in place.
Josh McDaniels ‘overestimated’ Jimmy Garoppolo’s knowledge of system
Las Vegas wasted little time in free agency before signing quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. In McDaniels’ eyes, he was the next best option available after Brady. More importantly, he knew the system the Raiders’ head coach and play designer wanted to run.
Everything quickly unraveled. While the three-year, $72.5 million contract was a massive commitment to make to an injury-prone quarterback, Davis was willing to do it based on what McDaniels told him. Despite the financial commitment and the foot surgery that delayed the physical for months, Las Vegas seemed ready to roll with Garoppolo.
However, per Ian Rapoport, McDaniels overestimated Garoppolo’s familiarity with his scheme. He assumed that because he had worked with Garoppolo in New England (2014-’17) as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the veteran signal-caller would seamlessly transition with his new team.
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Instead, Garoppolo returned to the practice field later in the offseason due to foot surgery. When he was finally out there, he struggled to adapt to McDaniels’ system. Despite his lack of comfort with McDaniels’ playbook, Garoppolo only attempted four passes during the preseason.
Once the regular season arrived, Garoppolo’s durability issues remained and he struggled in his limited opportunities on the field. After it became clear he wasn’t even the best quarterback on the Raiders’ roster and the locker room lost faith in McDaniels, the change at head coach and quarterback was made.
