After benching and releasing veteran quarterback Derek Carr, the Las Vegas Raiders will have Jimmy Garoppolo under center for the 2023 season.
Garoppolo has played nine seasons in the NFL, and he has spent his last six seasons as the starting signal-caller for the San Francisco 49ers.
In order to shore up the depth behind Garoppolo, the Raiders are reportedly looking into signing Blaine Gabbert, another former 49ers QB, and they reportedly visited him recently.
The Raiders hosted free agent QB Blaine Gabbert on a visit.
The team also re-signed OL Hroniss Grasu.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 18, 2023
Gabbert was the Niners’ starting QB in 2014, 2015 and 2016, right before Garoppolo arrived in the Bay via a trade with the New England Patriots during the 2017 season.
Since leaving San Francisco, Gabbert has played with three other teams — the Arizona Cardinals, Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In Tampa Bay, Gabbert backed up Tom Brady the past three seasons, just as Garoppolo did in New England in his first two and a half seasons.
The Raiders were tabbed by many as Super Bowl contenders going into last season, but they egregiously fumbled an immense opportunity by blowing multiple sizable leads and losing several close games.
They finished just 6-11, which seemed to necessitate making a change at the quarterback position.
Las Vegas has Davante Adams, who may be the best wide receiver in football, as well as Josh Jacobs, who had an outstanding 2022 campaign and is staying on the team’s franchise tag.
The team hasn’t won a playoff game since 2002 when it reached the Super Bowl, and it hasn’t won the Vince Lombardi Trophy since 1983 when it was based in Los Angeles.
