For months now, the San Francisco 49ers have been trying to trade quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, as they have been transitioning to having Trey Lance starting under center.
But they haven’t found any serious takers, at least not yet.
Several teams have been rumored to have interest in the veteran signal-caller, but apparently, none of them had enough interest to generate momentum in trade talks.
With the start of the NFL regular season just a few weeks away, it is looking more and more like San Francisco will simply have to release Garoppolo, especially once teams are required to make their final roster cuts.
But now, 49ers owner Jed York may be singing a different tune.
“I’ve said this before, you can’t have enough good quarterbacks and good football players,” York said. “I’m not going to get into roster discussions and what John and Kyle want to do. But I will support them in sort of anything that they want to make this team as good as it can possibly be.
“I watched it with Joe (Montana) and Steve (Young) and I realize the salary cap is different today than having no salary cap. But we’ve said it before: We’re happy to keep Jimmy. We’re happy to have him on the roster. And if that’s the case, then that’s the case.”
The Only Argument For Keeping Garoppolo
The NFL is truly a grown man’s game, and Lance has very little organized football experience for a 22-year-old.
He played only one full season of college football at North Dakota State University, a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) NCAA school, as his junior season in 2020 was almost completed torpedoed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last season, as a rookie with the Niners, he appeared in six games and started two, throwing just 71 total pass attempts.
Yes, Lance has a very appealing and promising skill set with his ability to run and throw the deep ball, plus his pocket awareness, but all rookie QBs go through growing pains.
Garoppolo would be an outstanding insurance plan to have in case Lance goes through an extended slump or gets injured.
But would Garoppolo be OK would being a QB2?
He did play exactly that role behind Tom Brady during his first three seasons in the league, and when Brady was suspended for his involvement in Deflategate, he stepped in and started two games early in the 2016 campaign.
September 11, 2016
Jimmy Garoppolo, in his 1st NFL start, leads the 9-point underdog Patriots to a (23-21) win over the Arizona Cardinals
Good start to the season pic.twitter.com/M8IsvdPMKF
— Boston Sports Info (@bostonsportsinf) September 11, 2021
But after leading the 49ers to two NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl in just the last three years while receiving an extremely lucrative contract from them (when he signed it in 2018, it was the largest contract ever on an annual basis), being a backup would seem like a major demotion.
No One Has Bit On Garoppolo
One would think that with Garoppolo’s resume and his numbers (since joining the Niners, he has posted a very strong 98.3 passer rating), at least one team would be seriously interested in him.
But that has not been the case.
The Cleveland Browns would seem to be the most logical landing place for him, as they have a talented roster but won’t have Deshaun Watson for the first 11 games of the season.
Hot take:
A Jimmy Garoppolo led Browns team is a Super Bowl contender. pic.twitter.com/DXXQWkJzTl
— Nick Karns (@karnsies817) August 11, 2022
But nothing has even come close to materializing between them and San Francisco.
The problem with keeping him would be the $24.2 million he is owed this season, which would make it harder for the team to give young star pass rusher Nick Bosa the contract extension he deserves.
In the end, why would any team give up an asset or two for Garoppolo if they could simply wait a couple of weeks and get him as a free agent after the Niners replace him?
NEXT: Jimmy Garoppolo May Not Be The Class Act He Has Seemed Like