Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is not participating in the team’s OTA practice this week as he continues to recover from the left foot injury sustained late last season, coach Josh McDaniels said Thursday. While McDaniels declined to discuss details, team and league sources said Garoppolo underwent surgery in March after signing with the Raiders. The recovery timeline from this procedure is unknown, although McDaniels admitted he could be “down” at least until training camp.
“He’s going through his process exactly as we expected,” McDaniels said Thursday. “Nothing happened that would surprise us based on the information available to us.”
Here’s what you need to know:
- Garoppolo first suffered a left foot injury on December 6, 2022 while playing for the 49ers. San Francisco feared he had sustained a Lisfranc fracture — which required surgery — but the 49ers’ team doctors concluded it was a different type of fracture that didn’t require surgery and had a recovery time of about had two months.
- Based on that, Garoppolo — who had been pushing for a possible return should the 49ers reach the Super Bowl — should have been perfectly sane when he agreed to deals with the Raiders on March 13. The first hint that something might be wrong came when Garoppolo arrived at team headquarters in Henderson, Nevada, to sign his contract on March 16, but left the facility without doing so.
- When Garoppolo actually signed and held his inaugural press conference a day later, he neither revealed the reasons for the delay nor gave a clear update on the status of his foot injury. However, according to a league source, when Garoppolo was examined, the Raiders found that his foot did in fact need surgery, and the procedure was performed after it was put in place.
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What is the level of concern?
One gets the impression that the Raiders aren’t worried that Garoppolo will be ready for the start of the regular season in September.
“We don’t play a game for 100 days,” McDaniels said Thursday. “Everything that has happened since we signed Jimmy, we knew in advance. … Surely he was aware of that. At this point, we don’t prefer to push it and push anyone back.”
Still, given Garoppolo’s history, it’s worrying that an injury situation will arise.
Since becoming a regular after moving from the Patriots to the 49ers in 2017, Garoppolo has missed 31 regular-season games and suffered three season-ending injuries. The Raiders had that context and still felt comfortable enough to give him a three-year, $72.75 million deal with a $33.75 million total guarantee, but now he’ll once again miss time before he even gets it played a snap for her. That further delays his chance to build chemistry with star receiver Davante Adams and the rest of the team’s offensive arms.
Even if he’s ready in time for Week 1, one can still wonder if he can last the whole season. The Raiders see Brian Hoyer as a viable replacement and believe in Aidan O’Connell’s long-term potential given they drafted him in the fourth round last month, but neither player is likely to come close to matching Garoppolo expected production this season. If Garoppolo’s injury problems continue, the Raiders’ offense will be in a difficult state.
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When asked at his introduction if he was worried the Raiders deal would fall through, Garoppolo said there was “no concern” and called the process “very cooperative.”
Garoppolo said his goal is to “put silver and black back to where they should be”.
When asked if he expects to become Las Vegas’ “long-term” starter, the veteran said he “comes here with an attitude that he has to earn everything.” He added, “I don’t want to hear ‘You’re the franchise guy’ or whatever. I want to come in and earn it.”
When asked if he still had anything to prove in his career, Garoppolo replied, “Damn, yes. I’m trying to win a Super Bowl. I know that’s what every player says when they come to their first press conference, but that’s my goal.”
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(Photo: Candice Ward / USA Today)