No awkward divorce and remarriage this offseason. Jimmy G and the 49ers are finally breaking up.
The NFL’s legal tampering window for free agency opened up Monday morning and the former 49ers quarterback was one of the first dominoes to fall in the leagues upcoming musical chairs this offseason under center. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Garoppolo has agreed to a three-year, $67.5 million deal with $34 million guaranteed.
With the move, Jimmy G finally ends his five-plus year run in The Bay and gets to reunite with Las Vegas head coach Josh McDaniels, who was his offensive coordinator and QB coach in New England from 2014-17.
The Raiders, meanwhile, have found their answer at signal-caller after longtime franchise QB Derek Carr was released and landed with the New Orleans Saints with a four-year $150 million pact. Jarrett Stidham shined against the 49ers in Week 17 last season, but he didn’t get a crack at taking over for Carr, as he has reportedly agreed to a two-year, $10 million deal with the Denver Broncos.
Jimmy G’s tenure was a polarizing one for 49ers fans. He went 42-19 as a starter with San Francisco, leading the team to two NFC title games and a Super Bowl, while also playing a big hand in the 2022 run to the NFC Championship. Among 49ers quarterbacks with at least 50 starts since 1975, Garoppolo’s.684 regular-season win percentage is second only to Steve Young (.753), and slightly better than Joe Montana’s .659 clip.
Garoppolo offered an emotional goodbye to 49ers Faithful following the 2021 season, when the team lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC title game. But an offseason surgery scared off potential trade partners and the 49ers restructured his contract to make it an incentive-laden one-year deal.
In his final season with the 49ers, Garoppolo took over for an injured Trey Lance in Week 2 and started the next 10 games, before being sidelined with a season-ending ankle/foot injury in Week 13.
During the recent NFL scouting combine, 49ers general manager John Lynch all but bid farewell to Jimmy G.
“What I know is we won a lot of football games with Jimmy,” Lynch said. “I admire, we admire his toughness. We admire the teammate that he was, so I know everyone wants to talk about some discourse and all that, but I do believe that it’s probably run its course, but I think we leave with nothing but fond memories of Jimmy and Jimmy’s going to go play good football for someone.”