26 July 2023 , 15:09
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Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels has provided an update on Jimmy Garoppolo’s fitness at the start of training camp.
Garoppolo has been recovering from a foot injury he sustained playing for the San Francisco 49ers last season on December 4. That led to Brock Purdy stepping in and becoming the new starting quarterback for the Niners.
After the season came to an end, the Niners traded Garoppolo to the Raiders. The AFC West franchise handed the veteran QB a three-year contract worth $72.75 million (£56.3 million), despite being aware of the injury.
Garoppolo required surgery on the foot injury, but he is nearing a return to practice with the Raiders. The roster returned for the first day of training camp on Tuesday, and McDaniels has provided an update on Garoppolo’s fitness.
McDaniels has stated that there will be no restrictions placed on Garoppolo, despite the player coming back from foot surgery. However, the head coach did reiterate that he would not be putting any added pressure on Garoppolo’s fitness in the early stages of the pre-season training.
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“No, there aren’t [any restrictions],” McDaniels told reporters in his press conference on Tuesday.
“We’ll do what we always do with players that are coming off of any type of rehabilitation, so we’ll just do it the right way.
“So it might not be 100 percent of the repetitions the first day, etc. But we would never do that with anybody.
“So, there’s a number of players, obviously, that had things in the spring. And [we’re] making sure that we’re just smart about how we re-integrate them into the totality of practice.
Jimmy Garoppolo is still recovering from a foot injury he sustained with the San Francisco 49ers (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)“So, it shouldn’t affect us that much. But excited for him to be out there. I know he’s excited to be out there with his teammates, too.”
Garoppolo is expected to be the starting quarterback for the Raiders in 2023, after the team released nine-year veteran Derek Carr at the end of last season. Carr eventually signed a four-year contract with the New Orleans Saints, leaving the Raiders with rookie Aidan O’Connell and 15-year veteran Brian Hoyer alongside Garoppolo in the QB room.
The Raiders have a busy pre-season schedule as they prepare for the 2023 NFL regular season. Three friendly games in August against the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Chargers, and the Dallas Cowboys will be the build-up to the Week One opener against AFC West divisional rivals the Denver Broncos.