Silver Minings: Jimmy Garoppolo’s suspension gives Raiders big salary cap boost

Raiders move up in cap space rankings by 3 spots

Yesterday’s news about Jimmy Garoppolo getting suspended for two games next season after violating the NFL’s Performance Enhancing Substance Policy helped solve one of the Las Vegas Raiders’ offseason problems.

Heading into free agency, the Raiders were expected to move on from Garoppolo but were going to have to decide how to eat roughly $28.4 million. At a high level, their options were either to take the hit upfront or split it up between this year and next year. However, according to Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap, the quarterback’s contract structure will make things easier for Las Vegas.

“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. Garoppolo has a roster bonus due on the 5th day of the league year so his release would be processed before that.”

OTC currently has the Raiders with the 11th-most cap space at about $35.3 million. The $11.25 million savings boost them up to $46.6 million and eighth overall. Spotrac’s numbers are more generous — $43.4 million to $54.7 million — but the rankings stay the same.

Of course, other teams can get out of bad contracts as well to reshuffle the order, but the Raiders are essentially getting enough money to bring in a quality starter this spring.

In Other Raiders’ links:

• Luke Getsy impressed with upcoming QBs: “It’s obviously an impressive (draft class),” Getsy said Friday, via The Athletic’s Vic Tafur. “I think there’s a lot of different flavors, and I think I’m going to have a lot of fun diving into it.”
• Getsy praises Justin Fields: “Like I said when I was there, he’s one of the best human beings I’ve ever got to work with,” Getsy said, via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “The mentality that he brought every day, the consistent approach, the kind of man that he is. It was a blessing to work with him. He was someone that just came to work every day to get better and better, and I think he’ll continue to do so.”
• Kliff Kingsbury talks about Pierce: “I don’t want to get into the specifics but I have a tremendous amount of respect for the organization and Mark Davis and [Antonio Pierce] – huge fan of his,” Kingsbury said during his February 15 introductory press conference, via Heavy on Sports’ Austin Boyd.
• Roster trimming; more offseason talk for this week’s mailbag.