Jimmy Garoppolo’s Best Landing Spots amid NFL Suspension, Impending Raiders Release

If you’re a quarterback-needy team looking for an oft-injured player who will also miss time next season due to a suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy, Jimmy Garoppolo is here for you.

Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Garoppolo received a two-game suspension from the league for not having a valid therapeutic use exemption for a prescribed medication he was taking.

Garoppolo isn’t going to appeal the suspension, meaning the earliest he will be available next season is Week 3.

Schefter also noted the Raiders are expected to release Garoppolo at some point in March before his $11.25 million roster bonus is due.

This isn’t surprising news at all considering Garoppolo was benched midway through the 2023 season for Aidan O’Connell. The 32-year-old was bad in the seven games he did play, with nine interceptions in 169 pass attempts.

Garoppolo’s 5.3 percent interception rate would have led the NFL by more than one full percentage point if he had enough attempts to qualify.

On top of his struggles in 2023 with the Raiders, Garoppolo also carries the stigma of being an injury risk. There were concerns initially from Las Vegas after agreeing to a three-year, $67.5 million deal stemming from the broken foot Garoppolo suffered in Week 13 of the 2022 season with the San Francisco 49ers.

Since his first full year with the 49ers in 2018, Garoppolo only played every game in the regular season once (2019). The list of injuries that have kept him out of games over the years includes the aforementioned broken foot, a torn ACL (2018), high ankle sprain (2020), calf and thumb (2021).

At this point, Garoppolo is most likely going to have to settle for being a backup going into next season. Here are the teams that could present him with an offer hard to turn down.