Jeff Garcia Comes to Terms with Oakland Raiders: Back to California

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jeff Garcia spent the first five seasons of his NFL career playing for the San Francisco 49ers. Since then, he has done nothing but bounce around the league, playing for different teams.

According to the Associated Press, Garcia is now headed back to the state of California after agreeing to terms with the Oakland Raiders. They'll be his fifth team in seven years, as he's made pit stops in Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Tampa Bay after his departure from San Francisco.

Even though the four-time Pro Bowler has been a starter for the majority of his career, he will be competing for the starting quarterback position with current Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell this summer.

This Oakland club finds itself in an interesting situation with the acquisition of Garcia.

The 39-year-old obviously has more experience at the quarterback position than Russell and has shown he is capable of leadership. Garcia led the Eagles to five straight wins and a Playoff birth in 2006 after replacing Donovan McNabb, who went down with an ACL injury.

Jeff also led the Buccaneers to the 2007 postseason in his first year with the organization.

Garcia over Russell seems like the smart decision, at least statistically. Over the last three seasons, Garcia has started 33 games and thrown for 35 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions.

In his first full season as a starter, Russell played 15 games, throwing for just 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Will experience be the determining factor for the Raiders when it comes to who will be under center at the beginning of Week One's game? The whole situation is strikingly similar to one the Arizona Cardinals experienced at the beginning of last season with Kurt Warner and Matt Leinart.

But obviously, Oakland does not want to waste all of the money they are spending on Russell to have him sit on the bench. In '09, he'll be starting the third year of his six-year, $68 million contract. That is a lot of money to pay a quarterback who isn't even considered the team's No. 1.

So in the end, whether or not Garcia starts in Week One will likely come down to his ability to outperform Russell during training camp.

Throughout his ten-year career, Garcia has thrown for 25,537 yards, 161 touchdowns, and 81 interceptions.