Raiders face big questions with Jimmy G’s foot injury. Will he be gone and who’s available?

The Jimmy Garoppolo era with the Las Vegas Raiders is off to a very slow start.

The main culprit? Garoppolo’s preexisting foot injury, which was suffered late in the 2022 NFL season against the Miami Dolphins and put him on the shelf for the rest of the year.

It was thought that Garoppolo wouldn’t need surgery, but turns out he did shortly after he signed a free-agent contract with the Raiders in March.

Now comes word, according to Pro Football Talk, that the Raiders can cut Garoppolo prior to the 2023 NFL season if he doesn’t pass a physical.

Will Garoppolo even step on the field as a member of the Raiders? Even if he does, how effective will he be as the starting quarterback? Concerns will be there even when he’s cleared to resume football activities.

Especially when he has to drop back and plant that injured left foot to throw a pass or needs it to escape a pass rush.

His injury history will always be a concern and that’s not good for the Raiders, who cut ties with Derek Carr after nine seasons and saw him join the New Orleans Saints.

When the Raiders scheduled a ceremony for Garpoppolo to announce his signing, there was a long delay before things were ironed out. Turns out, it was an added injury-waiver clause — labeled Addendum G — in the contract, allowing the news conference to go forward.

Garoppolo reportedly ended up having surgery after the signing.

The Raiders were well aware of Jimmy G’s injury history, but the familiarity that general manager Dave Ziegler and head coach Josh McDaniels have with him trumped any fears they had at the time.

The Raiders better hope Jimmy G will be fine when Sept. 18 rolls around, because if not, the team will be in for a very long season. Brian Hoyer, Chase Garbers and rookie Aidan O’Connell are the only healthy quarterbacks available for the Raiders.

Who else could they pursue? Aaron Rodgers is out, now that he’s with the New York Jets.

Tom Brady? He agreed to be a minority owner of the Raiders, so rule him out, too, unless Brady decides ownership can wait.

Offshore betting site sportsbetting.ag already listed odds on the Raiders’ Week 1 starter, with Brady as the favorite, followed by Hoyer, Matt Ryan, Nick Foles, O’Connell, Carson Wentz, Andy Dalton, Teddy Bridgewater, Jacoby Brissett, Joe Flacco, Cam Newton, Andrew Luck and Colin Kaepernick.

From now until training camp, the center of attention will be the availability of Jimmy G.

For the Raiders’ sake, they better hope he’s ready to go and doesn’t have limitations.