When the Las Vegas Raiders signed Jimmy Garoppolo to a three-year deal last offseason, they were expecting him to get some stability at quarterback. It did not work out according to plan.

As a result of injuries and underwhelming performance in general, Garoppolo was benched in favor of rookie signal-caller Aidan O’Connell in late October.

Prior to throwing one pass in the Raiders’ season finale this past Sunday, Garoppolo last appeared in a game on Oct. 30, so you would think he wouldn’t have very fond memories of 2023.

However, Garoppolo says he actually enjoyed the season.

“When you’re in the middle of it, it’s a whirlwind,” Garoppolo said, via Vic Tafur of The Athletic. “You can’t really smell the roses too long or you get caught up in it. And just reflecting, [I] built a lot of cool relationships in this building. The players, obviously, but just the people in this building — it’s a cool building, good people to be around. And that’s the stuff you carry with you, man. That’s the stuff, yeah, you look back on the season and there are little moments here and there — fun stuff. Yeah, I loved it. It was a weird year, don’t get me wrong, but I loved every minute of it.”

That’s not the kind of quote you would expect from a guy that got benched, but Garoppolo has taken the high road. He has even embraced the opportunity to mentor O’Connell, remembering that he was once in O’Connell’s position years ago.

“I was a rookie once and Tom [Brady] helped me out,” he said.

In seven games and six starts this season, Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 1,205 yards, seven touchdowns and nine interceptions while completing 65.1 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 77.7.

The Raiders ended their year with a record of 8-9.

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