The Las Vegas Raiders are beginning to change their group of quarterbacks. Jimmy Garoppolo is anticipated to be let go soon and Brian Hoyer will also be leaving in free agency.
As per a March 8 X post from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the team has released the experienced quarterback before free agency.
Las Vegas saves less than $100,000 as Hoyer’s salary was guaranteed for 2024. The team will now have a $2.6 million dead cap hit. This isn’t a move that will save money for the Raiders. Hoyer was brought in last year to serve as a backup to Garoppolo.
He was forced into the starting role for one game against the Chicago Bears but was benched after playing very poorly. He threw two interceptions and no touchdowns in the Week 7 matchup. Hoyer is 38 now and was considering retiring before signing with the Raiders last year. This will likely be his last spot. Hoyer was a favorite of former head coach Josh McDaniels but it didn’t make much sense for new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy to keep a 38-year-old quarterback who can’t play around. It’s possible that another team will value his veteran leadership and sign him but this is likely the last time we see Hoyer on a roster at the NFL level.
Why Cut Brian Hoyer if Salary Was Guaranteed?
Giving Brian Hoyer a two-year contract that was fully guaranteed was just one of the many puzzling deals made by former head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler. It left the new regime with a tough choice to make.
On one hand, there’s essentially no financial benefit to letting him go. However, he doesn’t make sense on the roster anymore and the Raiders would clearly rather use one of those roster spots on somebody else. Aidan O’Connell is set to be the only quarterback returning from last year’s squad.
Now, Hoyer has played games for eight different NFL teams so he’s proven he didn’t need to work with McDaniels but the Raiders must have thought it was just better to go in a different direction than to wait around and see if the veteran was going to retire. Las Vegas isn’t concerned with wasting some money on players who don’t make sense on the roster anymore.
What Las Vegas Raiders QB Room Could Look Like
The Raiders will have at least three quarterbacks on the roster heading into training camp. Only one spot is spoken for with Aidan O’Connell. That means two new quarterbacks will be joining the team at some point. There’s a strong chance that one spot will go to a rookie and the other spot will go to a veteran.
The Raiders can’t go into next season without a veteran quarterback in the building. It’s also likely the team will add a rookie at some point even if it’s later in the draft. The team would love to land a quarterback in the first-round but there’s no guarantee they can get someone they like. It’s always possible they wait until later in the draft to add one but it would be surprising if the team left the draft without adding a single quarterback.
