![\"Vikings](\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/ybmedia\/image\/upload\/c_crop,h_1125,w_2000,x_0,y_59\/c_fill,f_auto,h_900,q_auto,w_1600\/v1\/m\/d\/b\/db4f0f4371b1c0ffc19f0bab866bf3127c66fdba\/vikings-hc-gm-comment-on-kirk-cousins-contract.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe\u00a0Minnesota Vikings\u00a0must consider bridge quarterback options if\u00a0Kirk Cousins\u00a0walks in free agency \u2014 and a recent report revealed that\u00a0Las Vegas Raiders\u00a0quarterback\u00a0Jimmy Garoppolo\u00a0is poised to join the pool of free agent options available.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Athletic\u2019s Vic Tarfur reported\u00a0on February 16 that the Raiders plan to release Garoppolo when the league year starts on March 13 to avoid an $11.25 million roster bonus in his contract.<\/p>\n
Tarfur suggested the Vikings sign Garoppolo, who the\u00a0San Francisco 49ers\u2018 choice to pair with\u00a0Kyle Shanahan\u00a0as a more affordable option than Cousins.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they decide not to welcome back Kirk Cousins with $30-plus million a year, may we suggest the poor man\u2019s Cousins? He could spray the ball around in Kevin O\u2019Connell\u2019s offense until a later draft pick is ready to play,\u201d Tarfur wrote in a\u00a0February 23 article.<\/p>\n
![\"Jimmy](\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/GettyImages-1445884251-e1678211425574.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=782\")
<\/h2>\nDespite a down year with the Raiders, Garoppolo has a resume of effectively running a Shanahan-style offense similar to\u00a0Kevin O\u2019Connell\u2018s scheme in Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Selected by the\u00a0New England Patriots\u00a0in the second round of the 2014 draft, Garoppolo was deemed the successor to\u00a0Tom Brady. Garoppolo was traded to the 49ers midseason in 2017. He won all five of his starts to close the year, earning a\u00a0five-year, $137.5 million extension\u00a0as the final piece of a championship-ready roster.<\/p>\n
Garoppolo led the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2019 when the offense ranked second in points and fourth in total yardage. He made a second appearance in the NFC Championship game in 2021.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Garoppolo was playing some of the best football of his career, averaging 221 yards passing per game and throwing for 16 touchdowns and just four interceptions in 10 starts. He was bound for his third conference title game appearance before he suffered a season-ending foot injury that thrust\u00a0Brock Purdy\u00a0into the starting role in 2022.<\/p>\n
Injuries have proven to be the bane of Garoppolo\u2019s staying power in the NFL. In the three seasons Garoppolo played seven or more games in San Francisco, the 49ers fielded top-7 offenses in yardage and ranked in the top-6 in points twice.<\/p>\n
But injuries opened the door for Purdy, who was the more affordable option in the final years of Garoppolo\u2019s contract. Garoppolo was released and then signed a three-year, $72 million deal with the Raiders last offseason.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"jimmy](\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/GettyImages-1198930241.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=782\")
<\/h2>\nThe dysfunction in Las Vegas contributed to a down year by Garoppolo as he threw more interceptions (9) than touchdowns (7) for the first time in his career. He was benched amid the coaching change and has since been ousted from the organization looking for a fresh start.<\/p>\n
Garoppolo\u2019s $24.25 million average annual value of his contract with the Raiders is likely the ballpark of what he might fetch in free agency. He could come at an added discount considering he is suspended the first two weeks of the season after violating the league\u2019s performance-enhancing drugs policy (he didn\u2019t get permission to use a prescribed medication,\u00a0according to The Athletic).<\/p>\n
The debate between Cousins and Garoppolo comes down to whether Cousins is worth the price as a slightly better option to Garoppolo.<\/p>\n
ESPN projected Cousins could land a deal worth\u00a0over $50 million in free agency, which begs the question of whether Cousins is worth twice as much as Garoppolo.<\/p>\n
The Vikings also proved their offense could be productive without Cousins, going for over 400 total yards twice with\u00a0Nick Mullens\u00a0under center.<\/p>\n
Garoppolo could be an ideal buy-low bridge starter who has the ceiling of making a deep postseason run but at the very least keeps his team competitive while the Vikings develop a first-round rookie.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The\u00a0Minnesota Vikings\u00a0must consider bridge quarterback options if\u00a0Kirk Cousins\u00a0walks in free agency \u2014 and a recent report revealed that\u00a0Las Vegas Raiders\u00a0quarterback\u00a0Jimmy Garoppolo\u00a0is poised to join the pool of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nflquynh.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}