Today in Football Tropes 101: we’re exploring what a “culture fit” is, what makes a good one, and what makes a bad, and why Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels is a poor judge of it. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer shared some insight on the Raiders’ surprising decision to move from longtime franchise quarterback Derek Carr to San Francisco 49ers stopgap Jimmy Garoppolo.
But hey, whatever: the New Orleans Saints stood to benefit from it. We’ll see how this works out for Las Vegas. From what Breer is hearing, McDaniels and the Raiders view Garoppolo (who McDaniels coached with the New England Patriots nearly a decade ago) as a better culture fit for what they’re installing in Las Vegas:
O.K., so on the field, why Garoppolo over Carr? The Raiders, for better or worse, didn’t see Carr as a culture fit after having him in the building for a year, and they couldn’t get that wrong again at that position. They aren’t guessing on whether Garoppolo will be better in that regard. They know.
Now, what that means is up to interpretation. Maybe Carr didn’t show up early enough to the facility for McDaniels’ liking. Maybe he didn’t stay long enough after practice putting in extra work. Maybe he didn’t bring good snacks to the film room or made for poor water cooler talk. Maybe he was a stickler about his parking space. There’s any number of things this could mean, but Breer isn’t offering any details on what the gripes with Carr were or what the Saints may be in for after signing him, and speculating seriously doesn’t help anyone.
If we were to hazard a guess, it has something to do with the vaunted Patriot Way that McDaniels swore he was abandoning in taking the Raiders job, which failed him when he tried to install it in Denver and has failed everywhere it’s been tried in the NFL, including with the Patriots when they haven’t had Tom Brady to prop them up.
Another possible answer to this puzzle: McDaniels thought he could get the same level of play out of Garoppolo, which appealed to general manager Dave Ziegler because they could invest fewer dollars in his contract. Raiders owner Mark Davis is notoriously cash-poor, having struggled to put the money in escrow for contracts heavy on guaranteed money. Cutting corners and pinching pennies like this (guaranteeing Garoppolo just $45 million in the process) would line up with that.
Anyway: there’s been nothing to suggest Carr is a bad teammate or a toxic influence in the locker room. So Saints fans shouldn’t be sweating this move’s impacts on their team.
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