The television camera pans to Jimmy Garoppolo on the sidelines late in the Raiders’ preseason finale at the Dallas Cowboys and catches him perfectly in his element.

Garoppolo—dressed in his black No. 10 jersey, but without pads since he’s not playing—jokes with teammates as he stands near the center of a makeshift circle. The group includes everyone from superstar receiver Davante Adams, also not playing in the exhibition contest, to a few players fully dressed while competing for a spot at the end of the roster.

The scene is somewhat out of the ordinary for a veteran NFL quarterback. Many teams, including the Raiders in past years, don’t make their starters travel to the final preseason game if it’s on the road, let alone expect them to intermingle near the bench.

Other starting quarterbacks, like the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott across the field from Garoppolo, wear a headset to assist in play-calling and strategy. But Garoppolo looks most comfortable amid his fellow players, and it has been that way ever since the 31-year-old former San Francisco 49er and New England Patriot signed a free-agent deal in March to come to Las Vegas.

“He’s just one of the boys,” center Andre James said with a big smile contrasting with his gruff voice early in Raiders’ training camp. “He comes in and just kicks it with us. He’s willing to hang out with us in the locker room. He’s just an ordinary dude, and that’s what we love.”

Quarterbacks connecting with their teammates has been a major talking point across the NFL throughout training camp. One storyline on this year’s Hard Knocks, HBO’s annual training-camp documentary series, was three-time MVP Aaron Rodgers trying to jell with a new set of colleagues on the New York Jets.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, who won the Super Bowl two years ago, made headlines when his wife, Kelly Stafford, said on her podcast that he’s finding the younger generation of players “so different and so hard to get to know.”

Garoppolo is having no such problems. The 10-year pro was so liked in the 49ers’ locker room, some players were reportedly unhappy when he was benched for former No. 3 overall pick Trey Lance going into last season.

It has only taken a few months to build a similar reverence with the Raiders.

“We spend so much time together in there,” Garoppolo said when asked about his ability to ingratiate himself in locker rooms. “You spend more time with these guys than you do your own family, so guys are going to see through fakeness. I think just being authentic, being yourself and wanting to win at the end of the day, that’s what people respect.”

Garoppolo’s every move is inevitably compared to Derek Carr, who spent the past nine years as the Raiders’ starting quarterback before being benched late last year and signing with the New Orleans Saints in the offseason. Some have translated all the love for Garoppolo as a slight to Carr, but it’s not that way.

Carr’s leadership style was just different. He was intensely focused, so much so that his blank-stare game face turned into a social-media meme. He also couldn’t help but publicly bite back on what felt like every piece of criticism thrown in his direction.

Garoppolo is scrutinized just as much—it comes with the territory as an NFL quarterback—but rarely cares to address it. If Carr’s signature expression was his steely glare, Garoppolo’s is his wide, cheeky grin.

“Everyone has different ways of dealing with stuff,” Garoppolo said when asked why he’s not considered as fiery as his quarterback peers. “Some people like to vocalize it and put it out there. Some people like to keep it in and let their play do the talking … . That’s kind of how I’ve always been, and I’m not changing.”

Carr had his buddies on the team—namely returning top receivers Adams and Hunter Renfrow—but seemed less approachable as the established face of the franchise who held virtually all of its passing records. Garoppolo, on the other hand, is often the one doing the approaching, even in the team cafeteria while loquacious All-Pro punter A.J. Cole holds his usual court with special teams players.

“Me, [tight end] Jesper [Horsted] and[running back] Ameer [Abdullah] were sitting there talking about aliens—all this UFO stuff that they’re talking about—and [Garoppolo] just sits down like, ‘What are you guys talking about? Aliens? Oh, I’ve got a couple thoughts,’” Cole shared one day during training camp. “I don’t want to tell you anybody’s personal opinions on aliens—that’s, like, a private matter, I would say—but he was fully participating.”

Garoppolo’s rapport with the Raiders’ coaching staff was what really brought him to town in the first place. He credits coach Josh McDaniels with teaching him “everything” about the NFL after the Patriots drafted him in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft out of Eastern Illinois University.

McDaniels was New England’s offensive coordinator, so Garoppolo describes himself as “born into” the coach’s complex offensive scheme. It’s a system that never fully synced with Carr, who was paralyzed trying to perform in exactly the manner McDaniels desired.

The hope is that Garoppolo can execute it more fluidly—especially since he said McDaniels has also incorporated some new wrinkles taken from the quarterback’s favorite parts of the 49ers’ playbook.

Carr and Garoppolo’s statistical profiles paint them as solid, though not outstanding, quarterbacks. Cases can be made both ways on which is better positioned for future success. Carr has the bigger arm and is more athletic; Garoppolo is more cerebral and precise.

But no one can argue with Garoppolo’s edge in team success. With the 49ers, he posted a 44-19 record as a starter, combining the regular season and playoffs. Garoppolo took San Francisco to one Super Bowl after winning a pair of championship rings as Tom Brady’s backup in New England, and that history alone is enough to get everyone’s attention.

“I can’t say enough good things about him,” Renfrow said. “He’s won everywhere he’s been, so I’m just following his lead and jumping on his back and going from there.”

There’s been a lot of speculation on how Adams feels about his new quarterback, considering he asked for a trade from the Packers to the Raiders last year in part to play with Carr. He then openly campaigned for Las Vegas to trade for Rodgers this offseason.

Garoppolo might not have been Adams’ first choice as his new passer, but the receiver says the two bonded in the months leading up to training camp. And it wasn’t from throwing sessions—Garoppolo couldn’t practice until July while recovering from a foot injury—or even going over the playbook. Rather, it stemmed from “funny, interesting conversations,” Adams has said.

Garoppolo has changed the atmosphere around the Raiders’ headquarters in Henderson, and now the team hopes he can do the same on the field by claiming more victories.

“At the position of quarterback, you want to be a leader on your football team, and you have to be an elite communicator on the field,” McDaniels said of Garoppolo. “So, to be able to do that and establish those relationships is important.”

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