NFL suspends Raiders’ QB Garoppolo for 2 games to start next season

Even if the Raiders wanted to go into next season with Jimmy Garoppolo as their quarterback, he wouldn’t be eligible to start the season behind center.

The NFL suspend Garoppolo for two games, per ESPN’S Adam Schefter, after he failed the league’s performance enhancing drug policy. Garoppolo is reported to have tested positive off a prescribed medication that he didn’t receive a therapeutic use exemption to take, a simple process that’s granted to many players across the league.

The suspension is highly unlikely to affect the Raiders, who were expected to release Garoppolo before the start of the new league year on March 13 regardless.

Las Vegas is expected to bring in another quarterback next to Aidan O’connell, who started 11 games last year as a rookie after Garoppolo was benched, for the 2024-2025 season, whether it be through free agency or the draft.

Garoppolo was former coach Josh Mcdaniels’ handpicked permanent successor to longtime Raiders starting quarterback Derek Carr at the start of last season.

The former San Francisco 49ers passer didn’t thrive with the Raiders, going 3-3 while starting six games but leading the league with nine interceptions in the span. A particularly ugly performance in Detroit, where Garoppolo completed 10 of 21 passes for 126 yards and an interception, led to the firing of Mcdaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler.

Then-interim/since-promoted permanent coach Antonio Pierce decided to go with O’connell for the rest of the season afterward.

The failed test and suspension will go down as another disappointing footnote for Garoppolo’s short-lived and unproductive tenure with the Raiders.