Jimmy G misses OTAs after the Raiders discovered Garoppolo’s foot injury required surgery in March

We were this close to having a day without quarterback talk. Then, a report surfaced about Jimmy Garoppolo. The Athletic’s Tashan Reed covers the Raiders, and noted that Garoppolo didn’t participate in OTA practices for Las Vegas earlier this week.

When reporters asked Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels why Garoppolo hadn’t been practicing, McDaniels gave a Bill Belichick-esque answer, declining to get into specifics before saying he wasn’t surprised about Garoppolo’s absence.

Jimmy G is still recovering from his left foot injury that he suffered late last season, and McDaniels said he “could be” out until at least training camp:

San Francisco feared that he’d suffered a Lisfranc fracture — which requires surgery — but 49ers team doctors concluded that it was a different type of fracture that didn’t require surgery and had a recovery timeline of about two months.

Based on that, Garoppolo — who had been pushing for a potential return if the 49ers reached the Super Bowl — should have been fully healthy by the time he agreed to terms with the Raiders on March 13. The first indication something may be amiss came when Garoppolo arrived at team headquarters in Henderson, Nev., to sign his contract on March 16, but left the facility without doing so.

When Garoppolo did sign a day later and had his introductory news conference, he didn’t reveal the reasoning behind the delay or give a clear update on the status of his foot injury. But according to a league source, the Raiders discovered during Garoppolo’s physical that his foot actually did need surgery and the procedure was done after his introduction.

We could come up with endless hypotheticals here. One has to wonder if Garoppolo would have received $33 million guaranteed at the time of signing had they known Jimmy would be out for the majority of the offseason.

McDaniels went on to say there was “no worry” about Garoppolo’s injury during his introductory press conference — one that was delayed due to Garoppolo needing surgery — and that the Raiders don’t play a game for another 100 days.

There has to be some level of worry when you don’t know the exact recovery timeline for the most important position on the field. The 49ers have quarterback concerns of their own, but none of them involved a high-paid signal-caller with an extensive injury history.