The Las Vegas Raiders finally received some positive news this week. While running back Josh Jacobs won’t be at training camp after long-term contract talks fell through, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will be.
Jimmy Garoppolo passed his physical this week, which clears the way for him to begin on-field work for the first time with his new team. He missed the entire spring after it was determined during his free-agent signing physical that surgery was needed on his injured foot.
While it didn’t preclude the Raiders from agreeing to a deal with him, some safeguards were included. If Jimmy Garoppolo was unable to pass a physical for training camp, his deal would void and Las Vegas wouldn’t owe him any money.
Luckily for both parties, that wasn’t a path they had to travel down. Jimmy Garoppolo is now set to take over the starting job as the three-year, $72,750,000 contract is now official. At a press conference earlier this week, he made some bold comments about his injury status, revealing it wasn’t anything he was worried about.
“Never really a worry,” Garoppolo said. “We had a good plan here. The strength staff, training staff — really tip my hat to those guys. They did a great job just getting me back to where I needed to be. I’m not fully there yet, but working in the right direction.”
While Garoppolo wasn’t worried, there was certainly some concern throughout the franchise. The team signed veteran Brian Hoyer in free agency and used a fourth-round pick on Aidan O’Connell out of Purdue. Chase Garbers, a holdover from last season, also is on the roster as the team had some contingency plans in place.
Instead of battling it out for the starting job, those three will now fill out the depth behind Jimmy Garoppolo. That is good news for the Raiders as Hoyer looks to be nothing more than an emergency option while O’Connell and Garbers have no regular season experience.
Some practice time will certainly be needed to knock off the rust, but it is encouraging that Jimmy Garoppolo will be back on the field. He will have about seven weeks to get into playing shape before the Raiders face off with the Denver Broncos in the season opener.
