Jimmy Garoppolo's injury struggles have followed him from Santa Clara to his new Las Vegas stomping grounds, but the Raiders reportedly believe the former 49ers quarterback will be ready to start for them come Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season.
Garoppolo signed with Las Vegas as a free agent in March, inking a reported three-year, $67.5 million contract that came with a major stipulation.
The Athletic's Vic Tafur and Tashan Reed reported in late May, citing sources, that Garoppolo underwent surgery on his left foot, injured in Week 13 of the 2022 season, shortly after signing his new deal and has yet to practice. There was a brief postponement of his introductory Raiders press conference, too, as the team put together a clause in Garoppolo's contract that allows them to get out of the deal if his recovery doesn't go as planned.
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But, per ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Raiders aren't expecting that to be a problem.
"It’s generated a lot of anxiety, I believe, because it’s the first week in June and there isn’t a whole lot else going on," Schefter said Monday during "NFL Live" on ESPN. "If this were to happen during the season, I don’t know how much conversation it would generate. Maybe a lot because it’s a quarterback, it’s Jimmy Garoppolo, but the fact of the matter is, there are people -- plenty of people -- who believe that Jimmy Garoppolo is going to be just fine this summer."
Schefter went on to note many NFL players sign waivers like the clause included in Garoppolo's Raiders contract, which is labeled Addendum G and was first reported by Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio. In short, the verbiage states Garoppolo won't receive a dime from the Raiders until he passes a physical, and until then, the waiver allows the team to cut him "for any reason related" to Addendum G.
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"And yes, they did add the clause in his contract, which, many players have clauses like that in their contract, and the feeling is he’s still going to be ready this summer, he’s still going to be the starting quarterback on opening day, and it would take some sort of setback along the way for that not to happen," Schefter continued. "Could that happen? Absolutely. Jimmy Garoppolo has been injury-prone in recent seasons, but I can tell you that the feeling is that he’s going to be fine, and if they were overly concerned, they would not have proceeded ahead with the contract and done it the way they did.
"They got him to sign the injury waiver, many players sign injury waivers, and I think the feeling is that when the real games start, even when the preseason games start Jimmy Garoppolo is going to be out there and it’s not going to be any sort of issue, and we’ll see."
Garoppolo was not on the field for OTAs in Las Vegas, but based on Schefter's reporting, Garoppolo could be ready to go by the time the Raiders and 49ers clash in the preseason opener Aug. 13. The two teams also will hold joint practices in Vegas that week.
If Garoppolo is fully recovered by then, the quarterback certainly will have a chip on his shoulder as he takes the field against his former team.