Breaking News: Jimmy Garoppolo suspended for PEDs, per report

Quarterback will sit out the first two games of next season

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is being suspended by the NFL for violating the league’s policy on Performance Enhancing Substances.

Schefter notes that Garoppolo used “a prescribed medication without having a valid Therapeutic Use Exemption” and that the quarterback will not appeal the two-game ban, meaning he’ll be forced to sit out of the first two games next season.

Garoppolo signed with the Raiders during free agency last offseason as then-head coach Josh McDaniels’ hand-picked replacement for long-time starting quarterback Derek Carr. However, when McDaniels was fired midseason, interim (and now full-time) head coach Antonio Pierce benched the 10-year veteran in favor of rookie Aidan O’Connell for the final nine games of the campaign.

Thus, Pierce and Las Vegas are expected to move on from Garoppolo during the offseason, and a trade was viewed as one option to do so, but finding a partner will be much more difficult now that the quarterback will miss the first two games of the season. Instead, Schefter reported that the club will likely release him between now and next month.

“The Raiders are expected to release Garoppolo before the fifth day of the new league year in mid-March, when he would earn an $11.25 million roster bonus,” Schefter wrote.

“Rather than pay the roster bonus, the Raiders prefer to move on from Garoppolo. The quarterback signed a three-year, $72.75 million contract that included $33.75 million guaranteed with Las Vegas last March, less than one year ago, when Josh McDaniels was the team’s head coach and Dave Ziegler the general manager.”

The good news for the Silver and Black is this violation should void the quarterback’s $11.25 million salary guarantee, giving the team some salary cap relief, according to Over The Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald.

“This suspension is notable because it should void the $11.25 million salary guarantee that Garoppolo has for 2024 which makes things far easier for the Raiders to release Garoppolo,” Fitzgerald wrote. “This will bring his dead money figure down from $28.4 million to $17.1 million and also avoid having to make any cash payments following his release.”

Schefter also said that Garoppolo will not appeal the suspension but will be able to participate in all offseason activities and training camp with his next team. Now it’s just a matter of what team would be willing to sign a quarterback who they know won’t be available to start the year.