Raiders give update on Jimmy Garoppolo’s status

Jimmy Garoppolo returned to practice for the Raiders on Thursday after missing Sunday’s loss to the Bears. All signs point toward the veteran quarterback returning for the “Monday Night Football” matchup at Detroit.

“As long we don’t have anything that goes the other way,” coach Josh McDaniels said. “We’re very hopeful that’ll be the case.”

And with it, a chance for the offense to finally get untracked.

Part of that means Garoppolo getting on the same page with star wide receiver Davante Adams. Not only does that mean getting Adams more involved in the passing game, but also making sure he doesn’t put him in harm’s way when he does throw it to him.

Twice this season, Adams has taken big hits on throws delivered by Garoppolo. In each case, Adams had to leave the game, with one hit resulting in him going into concussion protocol after the Bills’ Taylor Rapp slammed into him on a deep ball Garoppolo threw into double coverage.

Adams said he and Garoppolo talked things out in both cases and that he appreciates the accountability from his quarterback.

“The way he talks about it with me makes me feel a lot better after,” Adams said. “It’s not something he’s out there trying to do. But we just gotta make sure we’re taking advantage of every opportunity to do it the right way, so we’ll continue to build that relationship.”

It hasn’t helped that Garoppolo has endured the type of start, stop, start, stop beginning to his Raiders career. Seven weeks into the season, he’s already missed two full games and two quarters of another. That’s on top of missing the entire offseason recovering from foot surgery.

The result is a stunted transition to a new club and a lot of learning in real-time with Adams. It has not only impacted the way they have meshed on the field but also Garoppolo’s chemistry with his other weapons.

He’s fully aware of the need to get Adams involved as much as possible, though.

“Whenever you’ve got the best receiver in football on your team, it’s always in the back of your mind,” Garoppolo said. “I know where he is on every play from the moment I got here. That’s a luxury that we have. Being the quarterback here, you get a guy like that on your team you want to know.”

The Raiders’ offensive struggles are multilayered, starting with a ground game that hasn’t gotten untracked, having to play three quarterbacks, Garoppolo’s slow transition and an inability to take advantage of their trips to the red zone.

One potential way to get things moving in the right direction is taking more shots downfield, something Garoppolo has not done. One of the few times he did drive the ball downfield it resulted in Adams getting hurt against the Bills.

Garoppolo said the deep ball is one piece of a bigger puzzle.

“There’s always a place for that,” he said. “There’s never one thing that we fix this and we’ll be good. Everyone wants it to be like that, a quick fix, it’s kind of the world we live in now. But it’s not like that. It’s a process you’ve got to assess different things. Players have to play better, coaches have to coach better.”

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.