David Garrard has been a popular name for quarterback-needy teams ever since he was cut by the Jaguars at the end of training camp. The Raiders were one of the teams to contact Garrard’s agent when they had an injury, but they were told he was unavailable because he planned to have back surgery. Garrard hopes to have an operation on his herniated disk this week, and his agent believes the back injury is the reason the Jags cut their starting quarterback six weeks ago.
“At $500,000 per game, they knew he would be down 4-6 weeks. They didn’t want to pay that bill,” Garrard’s agent, Al Irby told the Florida Times-Union via email. “Now you know the difference between a first-class organization like Indy, and a sorry organization like the Jags. Indy gave their QB a contract even though he couldn’t play all season. … David was told his back was fine. So he took them for their word.”
That’s a pretty damning claim by Garrard’s agent, but it could be possible. There wasn’t a whole lot of logic to explain the decision to cut Garrard so abruptly. Everyone knew rookie Blaine Gabbert would get a chance to start eventually, but it was obvious he wasn’t ready for the job at the beginning of the season; if he were, Luke McCown wouldn’t have started the team’s first two games.
The other part comparing Jacksonville to Indianapolis should just be ignored. If the Colts knew Peyton Manning’s neck would not heal and that he would need additional procedures, they wouldn’t have signed him to a new contract before the year. They also would have brought in another quarterback earlier in camp instead of signing Kerry Collins as late as they did. They were planning on having Peyton available at the beginning of the season. That comparison made little sense, but the other accusation may be accurate.
