The Raiders Reportedly Traded Darren Waller Because He Missed Too Many Games, Only To Make Jimmy Garoppolo Their New QB
Eric Espada. Getty Images."Why would the Raiders decide to move on from [Darren Waller] so quickly? Teams rarely re-sign players and trade them away six months later unless there’s some type of issue or issues going on that were not known at the time.
"While getting a third-round pick was seen by multiple league sources as good compensation for the Raiders, considering Waller turns 31 this fall, league sources said some in the club got wary of Waller missing significant time over the last two seasons (14 games).
"There were no off-the-field concerns, it should be noted, but as a pro personnel source added, you want to move away from older players who have trouble staying healthy before it’s too late."
We were led to believe months ago that Darren Waller might've gotten traded because he didn't invite Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels to his wedding, as covered by the legendary Jerry Thornton:
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While I disagree with the premise of Jerry's headline, the implication that McDaniels really is that petty isn't far removed from how he really is. By all credible accounts. Over the span of many years.
But my goodness, I hope this latest report on Waller's trade to the Giants is the true one. It just makes McDaniels and his fellow ex-Pat GM Dave Ziegler look that much stupider.
I will never cease to be entertained by the morons who try to replicate what Bill Belichick does elsewhere. Do they not realize that Belichick was mostly responsible for building his own rosters, being a top defensive mastermind of all-time and had the undisputed GOAT quarterback Tom Brady, who routinely took pay cuts to help the team? Some of The Hoodie's hardline policies, uh, don't work outside the magical confines of Foxborough.
Doesn't stop the Patriots castoffs from trying, though. Just take this situation for instance. Rather than riding it out with an elite pass-catching tight end in Waller, the Raiders brass got all impetuous about a soft tissue injury and shipped him away.
Then what do they do? McDaniels and Ziegler couldn't help themselves. After throwing Derek Carr under the bus, running him over with it, and spitting and pissing on his lifeless corpse (figuratively speaking), they bring in their old, familiar, former New Englander to play QB, Jimmy Garoppolo. BECAUSE HE KNOWS THE SYSTEM. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SYSTEM.
Look how defiant McDaniels is about acquiring Jimmy G. Reigning rushing champion Josh Jacobs apparently doesn't deserve as much credit for winning the NFL rushing title on his own merits as McDaniels does for scheming him up to succeed!
For such an accomplished offensive coordinator who's been a part of six Super Bowl champions, you'd think McDaniels would have the self-awareness by now to not do or say shit like this. Alas.
In not-unrelated news, what a fucking shocker this is:
Belichick's literal defining characteristic as a personnel guy is cutting veteran players early. McDaniels and Ziegler blindly applied this policy to Waller after a couple banged-up seasons in a row. Then they resolve their glaring hole at the most important position on the field by far with an even more-injured player in Garoppolo.
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Now watch. Waller is going be the wideout-deficient Giants' leading receiver this year. His Over/Under is 725.5 yards at Barstool Sportsbook. To hit the Over at 726, he'd need to average a mere 42.7 yards per game. Pretty doable, I'd say! Especially given Saquon Barkley's ongoing contract spat. Speaking of Waller and Saquon, my first-ever TikTok was about hammering Saquon and Christian McCaffrey's Over rushing yards (Roughly 20 pounds and one busted-ass couch ago):
Do we really think Waller is going to have a third straight injury-plagued season? That was my logic behind riding Saquon and CMC. Waller will be incredibly fresh and revitalized by the change of scenery. Plus, Brian Daboll is too smart of a coach not to make Waller the focal point of the G-Mens' Daniel Jones-led passing attack.
Never mind that the Raiders didn't even bother to have Jimmy G pass a physical before he put pen to paper. Then it turned out he needed surgery on the injured foot that limited him to 10 starts in 2022. Oh yeah, and Garoppolo missed all but three games in 2018 with a blown out knee. He started only six games during the 2020 campaign, too.
How predictable, hilarious and self-parodying can you get, Josh McDaniels? Bringing in YOUR GUY Jimmy, who is among the most frequently injured starting QBs of my lifetime. Just because of your prior affiliation. Another common theme in these ex-Pat regimes. I'm dying to find out how deep this rabbit hole goes. Keep it up, sir.
Good thing your franchise player Davante Adams is fully onboard with everything going on in Sin City! WOOOO!!!!
I'm sure Davante has softened his stance since the blog above was posted. Don't let that get in the way of how you all know he really feels. With Sean Payton now in Denver, there's no question the Raiders are on a collision course for dead-last in the AFC West.
Poor Jimmy Garoppolo. Hard not to root for the guy. I mean that. This is more about the audacious ignorance of Josh McDaniels and yet another egocentric Belichick spin-off football operation that's about to go down in flames.
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Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok