Things aren’t going particularly well for the Las Vegas Raiders this NFL season. At 5-7, the men from Sin City are currently in third place in the AFC West. A few weeks ago, head coach Josh McDaniels had to resign. According to current reports, he was responsible for an important personnel situation in the spring.
As “Sports Illustrated” reports, Dave Ziegler, general manager of the Raiders, wanted to trade up ahead of this year’s draft in order to secure the future of the quarterback position with CJ Stroud. McDaniels is said to have vetoed it and voted for Jimmy Garoppolo, who has been playing for the Raiders since this season.
According to reports, Ziegler was willing to give up almost all of the silverware in order to get position one or two in the draft, which would have been necessary to sign Stroud. Only pass rusher Maxx Crosby was unsellable in an uptrade, it is said.
“Josh was determined to sign Jimmy, but despite all of his health problems and Dave’s incessant warnings that it would be a mistake, Josh got his way,” Sports Illustrated continued.
NFL: McDaniels gone, Jimmy G on the bench
Just as CJ Stroud is charming the NFL with the Houston Texans, an uptrade probably would have been the right choice if the reports are indeed true.
Regardless of CJ Stroud’s personality, the signing of Jimmy Garoppolo has so far turned out to be a mistake and perhaps the beginning of the end for Josh McDaniels.
He was thrown out a few weeks ago due to a lack of results and things aren’t going well for Jimmy Garoppolo either. He missed some games injured, but didn’t perform in the others.
He finds himself on the bench under interim coach Antonio Pierce. The trust is currently in rookie Aidan O’Connell, who has two wins in five starts.