The Las Vegas Raiders are just days away from kicking off their 2023 season when they visit the Broncos. Before they embark on the year, however, they cleaned up their books by clearing up a significant amount of cap space in the process. The team restructured the contract of Jimmy Garoppolo and, in doing so, cleared $17 million in cap space, according to ESPN.
It's unclear what Garoppolo's restructure specifically looks like, but it does provide some much-needed relief. According to Over the Cap, Las Vegas was nearly $7 million over the salary cap, which was the second-lowest mark in the league. This move gets them cap-compliant and should give them some cushion to make any in-season moves that present themselves as the year moves along.
Garoppolo signed a three-year, $67.5 million deal to join the Raiders this offseason and is set to replace longtime starter Derek Carr, who was released by the team back in February. The 31-year-old spent the last six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. When healthy, Garoppolo was able to lead the Niners to victory more often than not, owning a 38-17 regular season record as the franchise's starter in the regular season. He even helped lead them to a Super Bowl appearance during the 2019 season. However, health has been a major storyline of Garoppolo's career, as he has suited up in at least 15 games in a given season just twice.
This restructuring is just the latest headline that revolves around Garoppolo's contract. Back in May, it was revealed that Las Vegas had included a waiver in his contract that had the power to void the deal in the event that his injured foot, which limited him to 11 games last year, prevented him from passing his physical. Garoppolo has since passed that physical and is set to be the team's Week 1 starter when they kick off the year in Denver on Sunday.
