Updated AFC West Power Rankings after Monday Tampering Period Day 1
4. Las Vegas Raiders
28. . . . Las Vegas Raiders. 4. team
The Las Vegas Raiders have had quite the offseason already in 2023.
The team made the decision to move on from Derek Carr late last season, and it ended with an ugly separation for the team. Carr was given permission to seek a trade and meet with other teams, and he strong-armed the Raiders into releasing him outright instead of getting anything in return in a trade. From Carr’s perspective, it was a brilliant move.
For the Raiders? Yikes.
Carr is a good player. If you poll 100 Raiders fans, you might find 50 who love the guy and 50 who absolutely will tell you he was the problem. I’m not so sure. The Raiders undoubtedly were hoping Tom Brady would hit NFL free agency, but that opportunity vanished and they made quick work pivoting to Jimmy Garoppolo.
Raiders signing QB Jimmy Garoppolo. (via @MikeGarafolo) pic.twitter.com/2S3MtTPzVV
— NFL (@NFL) March 13, 2023
Garoppolo will have a pretty easy job handing the ball off to Josh Jacobs, the first-team All-Pro running back and now the Raiders’ franchise player. He should have a pretty easy job distributing the ball to the Raiders’ top playmakers. But this team has a long way to go yet. They need a long-term solution at the quarterback position even if Garoppolo is an acceptable stopgap.
I’m a pretty big Garoppolo apologist, it’s just hard to see this team going very far with Josh McDaniels.