3 easiest roster decisions for Las Vegas Raiders this offseason
Some moves are difficult to pull off. These? Not so much.
The Raiders have had quite the offseason so far.
They've been one of the more active teams across the board, whether that was hiring a new GM in Tom Telesco, removing head coach Antonio Pierce's interim status, releasing the starting QB they just recently gave a huge contract to, or giving out one of the biggest deals in free agency, the Raiders have consistently stayed at the forefront of the NFL news cycle since the season ended in early February.
Some of their moves haven't been as easy as others – letting Josh Jacobs leave and sign with the Packers comes to mind – but for the most part, the direction that Vegas is taking with their offseason has been predictable.
These are the three easiest roster decisions that the Raiders have made so far.
3 easiest roster decisions for Las Vegas Raiders this offseason
1. Cutting Jimmy Garoppolo
We'll start with the obvious one.
Garoppolo wasn't even really cutting it when he was on the roster, which explains why less than a year after signing a three-year, $72 million deal with the team, he was benched for Aidan O'Connell, a rookie 4th round QB out of Purdue. Garoppolo's always been a backup-level QB who gets paid like a starter, and so when the Raiders got the chance to cut him without taking on a huge financial burden, it wasn't surprising to see them do so almost immediately.
Now that they're out of that contract, the work can start on finding an actual franchise QB. And yeah, they might have to deal with a season or two of Gardner Minshew while they're at it, but even that (bad) contract won't hurt them as much as Jimmy G's did.
Frankly, the Raiders caught a break here.