Following a rather unceremonious benching and subsequent release, Derek Carr has left Las Vegas for New Orleans.
The Raiders' all-time leading passer has been replaced by Jimmy Garoppolo, who's reunited with former offensive coordinator and new head coach Josh McDaniels.
Thus, the prevailing quandary ahead of the Raiders' 2023 season will be if Las Vegas made the correct choice replacing Carr with Garoppolo. NFL Research suggests the Silver and Black might well have made the right call.
Since 2017, Garoppolo has the third-highest QB winning percentage (minimum 25 starts) among active NFL quarterbacks, while Carr's 54 QB losses are the most in the league.
For a franchise forged on the motto "Just win baby," Garoppolo's resume portends doing just that.
Obviously, the lingering issue for Garoppolo, past and present, is his availability. Currently, the injury-prone signal-caller is on the road back from foot surgery.
Checkered as his injury history is, Garoppolo's quite simply a proven winner.
During his six seasons with the 49ers, Garoppolo led San Francisco to the playoffs every year he started double-digit games, which was three of the last four. For his career, Jimmy G is 40-17 as a starter, while Carr's 63-79 mark in nine seasons is the most losses for a QB over his first nine years since at least 1950, per NFL Research.
The Raiders went to the playoffs just twice in Carr's tenure, though he hardly got much help with an NFL-worst scoring defense (26.2 points per game) during his time.
Still, the Raiders haven't won a division title in 20 years, while Garoppolo helped the Niners to an NFC West crown a season ago.
Overall, Garoppolo has been the more efficient of the two, as well.
The former Patriots and 49ers QB boasts a better completion percentage (67.8-64.6), more yards per attempt (8.3-7.1) and a greater passer rating (99.7-91.8) in his career than Carr.
Perhaps most importantly to McDaniels and the Raiders is that Garoppolo has four playoff wins in his career, while Carr will be vying for his first still with the Saints this fall.
Did the Raiders make the right decision going with Jimmy G and moving on from Carr? Only the season ahead will tell, but NFL Research certainly offers up a statistical explanation of why the Silver and Black could be led to believe the future is brighter with Garoppolo under center.
