The Los Angeles Rams’ veteran backup is set to be a free agent in an evolving quarterback market
WOODLAND HILLS, Ca. An undervalued part of the Los Angeles Rams’ success over the past two seasons is Jimmy Garoppolo. The current backup has used his experience as a starter to give the defense excellent looks during practice while adding to the development of the offense.
With Garoppolo set to be a free agent this offseason, the disaster that is the New York Jets could see Garoppolo get a call to be their starter.
Pro Football Focus’ Bradley Locker reveals the situation for the Jets.
“The Jets’ decades-long woes may not be alleviated much this offseason,” stated Locker. “After overhauling almost the entirety of the team’s coaching staff, Aaron Glenn still needs to address his options under center — where there are scant good ones.”
“New York tried giving Justin Fields a shot in 2025, but he didn’t produce at the level of his $40 million contract with a 65.5 PFF passing grade. Other in-house candidates to start include 36-year-old Tyrod Taylor and second-year Brady Cook, each of whom finished below a 58.0 PFF passing grade.”
“Even though the Jets own the second overall pick, they almost certainly will not take a quarterback then based on this year’s class. Could New York instead draft someone like Ty Simpson at No. 16 overall? Or, could the team try to pursue the likes of Malik Willis, Kirk Cousins, Kyler Murray or Tua Tagovailoa on the market?”
Due to their financial issues, Garoppolo is an affordable option who has the floor that the Jets have been missing in their organization since Chad Pennington and the one year of Brett Favre. Plus, the whole McVay connection plays well for Garoppolo as it has done in the past for multiple quarterbacks, one being Jared Goff, who helped Glenn get the Jets job.
While the Jets are in need of a quarterback with Garoppolo’s veteran mindset and ability to run a functioning offense, Garoppolo has zero need to join the Jets. He’ll go if an offer is put on the table that he likes but from all accounts, he loves his life with the Rams and the organization loves Garoppolo back.
Not only has Garoppolo been an ultimate teammate, playing a critical role in the Rams’ week to week preparations, the job he did during the 2025 training camp and in the preseason, while Matthew Stafford was dealing with back issues can not be put into words.
He commanded the offense, fine-tuning their operation to ensure they were ready when Stafford returned. He did his job, did it well, and then there was a peaceful transition of power that was the catalyst to Stafford’s MVP campaign.
“It’s challenging,” stated Stafford on the challenges of being out with injury. “All I want to do is practice, play, get out there and be with the guys. I wasn’t able to do that, obviously. It was hard because I wanted to be out there but at the same time, it was actually awesome to watch [Quarterback] Jimmy [Garoppolo] do his thing.”
“Honestly, [Quarterback] Stetson [Bennett] got a million more reps in camp so from a team standpoint, we have a lot of guys with a lot of experience. I thought Jimmy did a hell of the job and I appreciate the hell out of him, but it’s difficult. I’ve played a bunch of games in this league. I still love playing and all I want to do is be out there and practice and play with these guys so it’s been fun the last couple days to be home.”
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