Sean McVay said recently he wanted the Rams to re-sign Jimmy Garoppolo. After the team took care of its higher-profile quarterback matter, QB2 continuity is on tap.
The latest veteran to stop through and back up Matthew Stafford, Garoppolo has a one-year deal in place to stay with the Rams, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo reported on NFL Network. Garoppolo secured a similar base value ($4.51MM) compared to his 2024 contract, but NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero adds $9MM in incentives are also included. This would seemingly pertain to potential Garoppolo starts, should Stafford go down.
Garoppolo followed Baker Mayfield and Carson Wentz into town as the Rams’ backup QB. Unlike Mayfield, Garoppolo did not need to play any games of consequence. Although the Rams could have moved up in the NFC playoff seeding hierarchy, they sat a host of starters in Week 18. Garoppolo received the start and played well, throwing for 334 yards and two touchdowns in a loss to the Seahawks.
The Rams had given Garoppolo a landing spot after a rough Raiders season. The Raiders had benched Garoppolo, after Davante Adams had made calls for it during a season in which the team fired Josh McDaniels, and made him a post-June 1 cut. In a rather interesting turn, Garoppolo and Adams are back together. The Rams acquired the All-Pro receiver Sunday night. If Stafford’s injury trouble produces an absence, Netflix’s Receiver project will be worth circling back to as a reminder of how poorly that QB-WR fit was in Las Vegas.
Garoppolo, 33, had been the 49ers’ primary starter for five seasons. He guided the team to Super Bowl LIV and then helped San Francisco out of a jam the Trey Lance miss caused, coming off the trade block to sign a reworked deal to stay in 2022. While the 49ers advanced to the NFC title game once again, it was Brock Purdy at the controls that year.
Making 64 career starts, Garoppolo has seen a litany of injuries keep that number fairly low. He suffered an ACL tear in September 2018 and played only six games in 2020, as ankle trouble surfaced. After playing through multiple injuries in 2021, Garoppolo suffered a Jones fracture to introduce Purdy to the NFL world in 2022. He missed two games with the Raiders in 2023 and ended up on the backup tier soon after the team’s McDaniels firing.
The Rams want to develop a young QB behind Stafford, via The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue, but Stetson Bennett has not proven to be that option. For now, Garoppolo will remain the team’s Stafford insurance policy.