Interim Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce made his first big decision in that role on Wednesday, benching veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in favor of rookie Aidan O’Connell.
Pierce’s decision came mere hours after Raiders owner Mark Davis announced the firings of head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler.
It represents a new day for the fledgling franchise after a 3-5 start the season, one that Garoppolo likely won’t be a part of.
All of this comes months after McDaniels and Ziegler opted to replace longtime quarterback Derek Carr with Garoppolo by signing the latter to a three-year, $72.75 million contract.
The decision to bench Garoppolo also comes after some major struggles on his part in the Silver and Black.
- Jimmy Garoppolo stats (2023): 65.5% completion, 1,205 yards, 7 TD, 9 INT
Garoppolo leads the NFL in interceptions with nine despite missing 2.5 of a possible eight games this season. In Monday night’s embarrassing showing against the Detroit Lions, the Super Bowl signal caller completed 10-of-21 passes for 126 yards with zero touchdowns and one interception.
It’s safe to say that Garoppolo’s future with the Raiders isn’t clear. They are embarking on an extensive search for a new head coach and general manager, one that should come to a culmination rather early in the 2023 calendar year.
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Cost of the Las Vegas Raiders moving on from Jimmy Garoppolo
This situation is not dissimilar to what happened with Derek Carr last season. Las Vegas benched him late in the campaign to avoid paying the injury guarantees on his contract. By playing Carr, the Raiders would have opened up the possibility of Carr being injured. It would have guaranteed him a boat load of cash for the 2023 season and moving forward.
The Raiders are already on the books for $11.25 million in fully guaranteed cash as it relates to Garoppolo’s contract for next season. His other $11.25 million base salary is guaranteed for injury only. Outside of the quarterback’s struggles, this is likely one of the reasons Vegas opted to bench him after the overhaul of their power elite late Tuesday night.
From a salary cap perspective, the Raiders can designate Garoppolo a post-June 1 cut. This would spread his dead cap figure through the remainder of his current contract, which runs through the 2025 season. In turn, Vegas would save $13 million against the 2024 cap with a dead cap hit of $15.52 million.
According to Spotrac, the Raiders are estimated to have north of $54 million in cap room once the new league year opens in March. The new general manager might simply opt to take that entire cap hit for the 2024 season, especially considering Las Vegas’ plans now have to be about a long-term rebuild given its lack of overall talent.
Either way we spin it, Jimmy Garoppolo has likely played his final game in a Raiders uniform. For this long-downtrodden organization, it really does seem to be Déjà vu all over again.
The good news is that Las Vegas can now get an extensive look at the aforementioned O’Connell and see if he might be part of the long-term solution moving forward in what is another lost season in Southern Nevada.