There has been a ton of quarterback movement this offseason, but one player who seemed like a lock to be on the move remains with his current team.
Jimmy Garoppolo is entering the final year of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers and was widely expected to be moved this offseason so they could turn the offense over to Trey Lance. While not a top-10 player at his position, Garoppolo has proven he is more than serviceable as a starting quarterback. The structure of his contract makes him easy to cut, but the 49ers ideally would rather find a trade partner than lose a valuable trade chip for nothing.
But Garoppolo is recovering from shoulder surgery, and he likely won’t be cleared to throw until June or July. Understandably, that has appeared to give some teams pause about trading for Garoppolo.
Still, he represents upgrades over players like Sam Darnold, Mitchell Trubisky and Davis Mills. And on his podcast “The GM Shuffle” this week, Audacy NFL Insider Mike Lombardi, a former NFL executive, shared what he heard 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was telling teams at the owners meetings.
"I’m told this reliably, at the owners meetings Kyle Shanahan was asking other teams, 'Why aren’t you interested in Garoppolo? He’s better than what you have,' Lombardi said. "And they don’t want to give Garoppolo away, and Garoppolo is certainly valuable, and yet they don’t want to have to just give him away and I think ultimately that being tied up is what’s creating the issue (signing Deebo Samuel), and of course all these other contracts, too."
Indeed, Garoppolo is not the only uncertain situation the 49ers are dealing with. Samuel wants a trade – though the reason for his request remains uncertain – and the possibility of just signing him to a new deal is complicated right now with so many other financial question marks, such as if Garoppolo will be on the books next season.
Maybe the draft will come and go and that’s when we’ll see teams whose quarterback situations are still unsettled going after Garoppolo. It wouldn’t be the end of the world for San Francisco to keep him, as their next option is Trey Lance, a 2021 third overall pick who has as much promise as he does question marks.
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