One day into the mad dash to replace Jason Campbell and one of the early favorites looks like he has already been taken out of the race. David Garrard, who was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars just before the start of the season, was thought by many to be the most likely replacement for Jason Campbell in Oakland. However, Jay Glazer of Fox sports has reported that Garrard will undergo a sugery to fix a herniated disc in his back.
That effectively takes away the biggest and best free agent option for the Raiders to replace their starting quarterback. It was questionable as to whether or not the Raiders would have been able to get Garrard to sign anyway. Garrard refused to sign with the Miami Dolphins earlier this season due to the fact that he wanted to sign with a team who was ready to make a commitment to him as the starter. Since the Raiders like Jason Campbell and drafter Terrelly Pryor in the supplemental draft, any quarterback obtained by the Raiders this season will likely be nothing more than a stop gap replacement.
That is of course, unless that replacement goes Tom Brady or Kurt Warner and takes them to the Super Bowl. Hey, a guy can dream right?
At any rate, it looks as though if the Raiders want to find a starting caliber replacement for Jason Campbell, they will have to do so before the trade deadline on Tuesday. With Garrard being the only legitimate starter available on the free agent market, the Raiders will need to either convince Mike Brown to trade away Carson Palmer, or deal with having a guy in Kyle Orton, who is not a good fit for the vertical offense.
If the Raiders opt to stick to the free agent market, it will likely be in order to find a veteran back up to sit in the second spot behind Kyle Boller.