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NFL 2023: Predicting the starting QB for all 32 teams pre-NFL Free Agency

By Sayre Bedinger

2023 NFL offseason: Aaron Rodgers #12 of the Green Bay Packers runs onto the field before a game against the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field on January 08, 2023 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
2023 NFL offseason: Aaron Rodgers #12 of the Green Bay Packers runs onto the field before a game against the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field on January 08, 2023 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images) /
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2023 NFL offseason
2023 NFL offseason: Jimmy Garoppolo-Josh McDaniels reunion with the Las Vegas Raiders? (Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty Images) /

Las Vegas Raiders: Jimmy Garoppolo or Taylor Heinicke (replacing Derek Carr)

Possible backup option: Taylor Heinicke or Jarrett Stidham

Although the intrigue may not be there for the Kansas City Chiefs, it’s certainly going to be there for one of their rivals in the AFC West — the Las Vegas Raiders. Before anything, it’s important to discuss the fact that in his two opportunities as an NFL head coach, Josh McDaniels has found a way to jettison a Pro Bowl quarterback.

When he was with the Broncos, McDaniels promptly traded away Pro Bowl QB Jay Cutler. He waited a year in Las Vegas, but stayed on-brand by cutting Carr in 2023. It’s absolutely wild that McDaniels has found a way to do this multiple times.

At any rate, Carr is gone. A new era will begin soon for the Raiders franchise, and ownership has obviously signed off on McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler doing what they feel is best for the team. It feels almost inevitable, doesn’t it, that McDaniels is going to reunite with one of his former QBs in a free agency crop loaded with them?

Of course, Raiders fans are dreaming of a reunion between Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams, but I simply do not see how Rodgers and McDaniels would work out.

More likely, the Raiders will be playing for the QB class of 2024, and if that’s the case, it wouldn’t shock me to see someone like Jimmy Garoppolo come to Las Vegas. I’m certainly not the first person to suggest that. Garoppolo and McDaniels obviously have a prior relationship, and Garoppolo has proven himself to be one of the most effective “point guards” at QB in the NFL.

Behind or maybe instead of Garoppolo, names like Taylor Heinicke and Jarrett Stidham make sense. Stidham got himself an audition late in the season in 2022 and did well. Heinicke is connected to Scott Turner dating back to his time in Minnesota, and they’ve sort of been connected at the hip.

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