Social media roasts Raiders for ironically timed birthday post

Hours after Raiders owner Mark Davis fired head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager David Ziegler (and later offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi), it was reported Wednesday morning that the team was "leaning toward" benching Jimmy G. in favor of rookie signal-caller Aidan O'Connell in Week 9. The quarterback switch was confirmed later in the day.

Garoppolo (who turned 32 on Thursday) has been a free agent bust thus far for Las Vegas after signing a three-year, $67.5M contract with the team in March.

The 2014 second-round pick had five touchdown passes and six interceptions while guiding the Raiders to a 1-2 start over the first three games of the 2023 campaign, before missing the Week 4 defeat against the Los Angeles Chargers. Garoppolo returned for Weeks 5 and 6 against the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots (both wins) but then sat out during the group's Week 7 loss vs. the Chicago Bears due to a back injury.

He was back on the field in Week 8 as Las Vegas lost to the Detroit Lions on "Monday Night Football" on the road. The primetime performance was Garoppolo's worst of the year, as he finished 10-for-21 for 126 passing yards, no touchdowns and one interception.

The two-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots had season lows in completions, completion percentage (47.6), passing yards and quarterback rating (46.9) during the "MNF" loss while failing to throw a touchdown pass for the first time this year. Garoppolo was also sacked a season-high six times for 49 yards.

It's common for NFL team's social media pages to wish their players a happy birthday, especially ones as high-profile as Garoppolo, but the timing was certainly ironic.