Who will be the quarterback of the Las Vegas Raiders in 2023 and beyond? It feels like the writing is on the wall with the team not only benching Derek Carr but actually having him stay away from the team facility for the final couple of weeks of the season. The Raiders could trade Carr to the highest bidder or let him hit free agency by cutting him.
The former would seem much more likely than the latter, of course, but I guess with Josh McDaniels running the show, you never know. Remember when McDaniels was hired by the Denver Broncos back in 2009 as the youngest head coach in the NFL? His first order of business was to alienate and trade Jay Cutler, and he accomplished that.
Now, almost 14 years later, it seems history is going to repeat itself. If McDaniels is going to jettison Derek Carr, who does he have in mind? My guess is, there’s been an endgame for some time now…
10 options for the Las Vegas Raiders at QB in 2023
1. Tom Brady (2023 NFL free agent)
If the last 20-plus years of NFL football have shown us anything, it’s that Josh McDaniels is fully capable of having lots of success when Tom Brady is his quarterback. And the same is true of Tom Brady with McDaniels. These two guys know how to gameplan together, they work well together (somehow), and they simply win together. They always have regardless of what other personnel is around them. When it’s McDaniels and Brady, good things tend to happen.
So how about the Raiders luring free agent quarterback Tom Brady to Sin City in 2023 to earn a tax-free income? The Bucs can offer him the same in Florida, so it’s really not going to be that much different, but Brady will be getting a decent upgrade in overall weaponry here going from Mike Evans and Chris Godwin to Davante Adams, Hunter Renfrow, and Darren Waller.
2. Jimmy Garoppolo (2023 NFL free agent)
Reunions between McDaniels and some of his former quarterbacks will be a common thread throughout this post. It just so happens that a number of guys he worked with while he was with the Patriots are going to be free agents in 2023.
That includes Jimmy Garoppolo, the starter for the 49ers (when healthy) and someone who has had a really tough time staying on the field throughout his NFL career. I think if the Raiders were to try and snag Garoppolo, it would be coming along with some other young QB early in the NFL Draft, but Garoppolo would certainly be in a decent situation with the Raiders in terms of the weapons at his disposal.