After two years as Matthew Stafford‘s backup, Jimmy Garoppolo may be in store for a raise — as a potential return to the starter level awaits. But his current team is interested in another deal.
The Rams have had Garoppolo on $3.18MM and $3.1MM contracts over the past two years. This came after the Raiders ditched the veteran’s three-year, $72.75MM deal after one season. If a starting job could be open elsewhere, it would stand to reason Garoppolo would be leaving L.A. But the Rams want to keep him.
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“I love Jimmy; I would absolutely want him back,” Sean McVay said. “I did see those reports too on Mike [LaFleur] trying to steal our guy, but no, Jimmy’s a really good player and so we would love him back.
“I’m sure he’ll have multiple opportunities and then we’ll see where we’re at. You guys know how I feel about him when we’ve spoken about him and we would love him back. I’m also not naive to the fact that he’ll probably have a lot of opportunities and if those are things that he wants to pursue that give him a chance to play, I would understand that.”
A Garoppolo-Cardinals connection emerged recently, and CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones adds Arizona is still believed to be interested. In that scenario, Garoppolo would be following LaFleur to Arizona. LaFleur spent the past two seasons coaching Garoppolo with the Rams. The Dolphins have also emerged as a potential suitor, as their upcoming Tua Tagovailoa release — which will bring a record-smashing $99.2MM in dead money spread over two years (in the expected post-June 1 scenario) — will hamstring the AFC East club.
Garoppolo, 34, was tied to a five-year, $137.5MM 49ers contract — a record at the time of signing (February 2018) — and he reunited with Josh McDaniels in Vegas. Garoppolo’s rough 2023 Raiders stay banished him to the QB2 level, but with a number of vacancies opening up this offseason, there appears to be an appetite for another opportunity — most likely as a bridge option.
The Rams are unlikely to pay Garoppolo too much more than they gave him in 2024 or ’25; in the event multiple other teams get involved, L.A. would presumably need a new backup. McVay helped Baker Mayfield rehab his career during a 2022 partnership, and the Rams moved to Carson Wentz in ’23. Stafford stayed healthy throughout this season, but the reigning MVP has played through injuries during much of his career. Garoppolo represents a much bigger risk, as the Cardinals or Dolphins would need to have a capable backup due to the former 49ers and Raiders starter’s 32 missed games due to injury from 2018-22. But he may have another shot to start somewhere again soon.