Las Vegas Raiders QB Jimmy Garoppolo Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Analyst believes newest Raider is at 'highest risk' for injury in 2023

By Mike Santa Barbara | Last updated 8/9/23

Injuries are an unfortunate part of football and players who've had issues before are sometimes more susceptible to suffering another setback. With that in mind, sports injury expert Will Caroll of fanbuzz.com recently named Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo among the players with the "highest risk" of injury in 2023.

Carroll called Garoppolo the "very definition of risk," pointing out the quarterback's laundry list of health concerns, which include multiple shoulder and ankle injuries, a torn ACL, a torn UCL and fractured thumb and most recently, a pedal foot fracture.

Some players coming back from injury are riskier than others. Here's the five I think might be (and I hope I'm wrong). Only on FanBuzz:https://t.co/STf7Riewqa
— Will Carroll (@injuryexpert) August 9, 2023

While there's justifiably a cause for concern for a 31-year-old quarterback coming off surgery who hasn't played a full season since 2019, Carroll believes Garoppolo's past makes him a gamble this season, rather than his offseason foot surgery.

"Pins and plates and a small screw are holding things together and the return rate from that is very high and quick," Carrol wrote. "Garoppolo's not the most mobile guy to begin with, so it shouldn't be as big an issue for him as one of the more run-focused QBs."

The Raiders' ugly divorce with Derek Carr opened the door for Garoppolo to sign a three-year, $72.7 million deal to don silver and black. Shortly after Garoppolo signed this offseason, the debate about whether he was an upgrade over Carr began. And early on in training camp, the doubters seem right, as Garoppolo hasn't been at his sharpest, with interceptions a concern.

However, head coach Josh McDaniels said he wasn't concerned about Garoppolo, even if the quarterback had thrown seven interceptions through two practices over the weekend.

"We've also seen some very good throws," McDaniels said via Vic Tafur of The Athletic. "It's a very competitive camp."

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